Second Officer Pilot Jobs 2026: 10 Airlines With a Second Officer Seat

Second Officer is an airline’s rank, not a license: a pilot ranked below First Officer. Some airlines give the title to the pilot who relieves the others in the cruise on long flights, others to a co-pilot who has not yet reached their First Officer minimums. Of the 121 airlines on our jobs board, 10 name a Second Officer seat among their entry routes: flydubai, Qantas Group (Qantas & QantasLink), Jet2.com, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, easyJet, KLM, Air New Zealand, HK Express and Oman Air. 5 publish a Second Officer route you apply to yourself, 3 place direct-entry pilots as Second or First Officer and 2 fill the seat from cadet programs. At the last check 3 of these routes were closed; where each one stood is below. This page lists them, the minimums, what the rules say the seat may do, and the traps in these vacancies: hours that your next airline may not count, bonds, and nationality and age gates.

The airlines with a Second Officer seat (10)

Every airline on our board whose entry routes name a Second Officer seat, grouped by how you get it. The routes are as each record words them, with their own dates. Our board tracks no separate status for the Second Officer seat, so the column beside them is the First Officer seat’s at the last check.

Where each route stood

The Second Officer routes open and close on their own, sometimes while the airline recruits other pilots. At the last check of each record:

• Cathay Pacific’s careers page said it was not hiring Direct Entry Second Officers on 29 October 2026, with no date for reopening (checked 30 October 2026).
• Singapore Airlines’ pilots page listed its Direct Entry Second Officer with applications closed on 30 October 2026 (checked 30 October 2026).
• A search-engine copy of Qantas’ careers page, seen on 5 October 2026, said it was not accepting applications for its Direct Entry Second Officers; whether the route is attached to an open vacancy today is among the points we could not confirm (checked 23 October 2026).
• KLM’s standing direct-entry vacancy, which places you as Second Officer on a wide-body or as First Officer on a European aircraft as KLM decides, was open with no closing date on 25 August 2026 (checked 13 October 2026).
• Air New Zealand’s careers site listed its jet-fleet expression of interest, for Second Officers on the 787 and 777 and First Officers on the A320 and A321, on 17 October 2026; those seats are filled mostly by internal transfer from its turboprops (checked 17 October 2026).
• easyJet’s careers page says a direct-entry co-pilot may join as Second Officer, First Officer or Senior First Officer depending on experience and hours, but no live co-pilot vacancy was found on 25 August 2026, and whether one is open is among the points we could not confirm (checked 12 October 2026).
• flydubai publishes its Second Officer Programme on its own Second Officer page, read on 20 October 2026, but recruits only through an application portal we could not open, so whether the program is taking applications is among the points we could not confirm; how the program compares with flydubai’s rated and non-rated First Officer streams is on our flydubai pilot requirements page (checked 20 October 2026).
• Jet2’s non-rated vacancy of 16 October 2026 was building a talent pool for all ranks for 2027, and pointed frozen-ATPL holders below its First Officer minimums to its Future Second Officer program without giving that program’s hours (checked 16 October 2026).

4 of the 10 airlines had the First Officer seat open, recruiting or building a pool, at the last check. A route that is closed today may reopen without notice: read the airline’s own careers page, not a job board’s copy of an old advert.

What the seat is, under the rules

The rules know the job by what it does. On a long flight an extra pilot may relieve the others in the cruise. The UAE’s licensing rules, for example, call the pilot who takes the co-pilot’s place a cruise relief co-pilot: a pilot who relieves the co-pilot of his or her duties at the controls during the cruise, in multi-pilot operations above FL 200 (GCAA CAR-FCL, FCL.010). EASA’s air operations rules let the co-pilot be relieved, for operations only above FL 200, by a cruise relief co-pilot who holds a valid CPL with an instrument rating and has completed the operator’s conversion training and checking, type rating training included, except the takeoff and landing training; the recurrent checks leave out takeoff maneuvers and include landings at least as pilot monitoring. To take over the conduct of the flight from the commander above FL 200, a pilot who is not another qualified commander must hold an ATPL (ORO.FC.A.201).

A restricted rating, and its own recency. Under the UAE’s CAR-FCL, the GCAA may issue a type rating with restricted privileges that lets its holder act only as cruise relief co-pilot above FL 200, provided that two other members of the crew hold the full type rating (FCL.720.A(c)). To act as cruise relief co-pilot you need the recent experience the rule cross-refers to, or at least three sectors as cruise relief pilot on the type in the preceding 90 days, or recency and refresher training in a full flight simulator at intervals of no more than 90 days (FCL.060(a)(3)). And a cruise relief co-pilot may log all flight time as co-pilot when occupying a pilot’s seat (AMC1 FCL.050).

The airlines use the title both ways. KLM’s direct-entry vacancy places you as Second Officer on a wide-body or as First Officer on a European aircraft; Air New Zealand’s Second Officers fly the 787 and the 777. Elsewhere it is the co-pilot below the First Officer’s minimums: flydubai’s Second Officers fly the 737 and become First Officers at 1,500 hours; Jet2’s start at 100 hours against its First Officers’ 500 on multi-crew aircraft; and easyJet’s careers page says its direct-entry co-pilots may join as Second Officer, First Officer or Senior First Officer by experience and hours. So ask what the vacancy means: what you will fly, whether you will take off and land, and when you move to First Officer. The Library’s pilot ranks, seniority and scheduling and flight crew composition articles explain the ranks and the relief rules.

The minimums, airline by airline

What each record gives for the Second Officer seat, or for the direct-entry route that places you in it:

• Jet2: 100 hours, with a frozen ATPL or an MPL and a UK-issued license, as its application-routes page showed in search results on 21 September 2026; what the 100 hours must be flown on is among the points we could not confirm, as search-engine copies of its pages word it differently (on type or on medium to heavy multi-crew jets, or on a multi-engine aircraft); its First Officers start at 500 hours on multi-crew aircraft over 10 tonnes (checked 16 October 2026).
• Jet2’s Future Second Officer program, for frozen-ATPL holders below its First Officer minimums: a UK-issued frozen ATPL, a multi-engine instrument rating and a current UK-issued Class 1 medical, then a fully funded type rating course as a Second Officer on its Airbus or Boeing jets, as its pilot careers page said on 2 November 2026.
• Cathay Pacific: at least 250 hours, with 1,000 hours and multi-crew cooperation preferred; an ICAO ATPL, or a CPL with a multi-engine instrument rating and same-state ATPL examination credits obtained without exemption or conversion; eligibility for a Hong Kong CPL on conversion under DCA607, a document of Hong Kong’s Civil Aviation Department. Every new Second Officer is based in Hong Kong (checked 30 October 2026).
• Qantas, as search-engine copies of its requirements showed them: one of five combinations of time in command, the lowest 300 hours in command of multi-engine airplanes or 500 in command of fixed-wing airplanes, in-command-under-supervision time excluded, with 2,000 hours in all, 500 multi-engine and multi-crew experience preferred; Australian citizens or permanent residents only, with a current multi-engine instrument proficiency check (checked 23 October 2026).
• flydubai: no hours minimum published; a GCAA or ICAO CPL with a GCAA frozen ATPL, a multi-crew cooperation (MCC) course and advanced upset prevention and recovery training (UPRT), and an age of 20 to 35 for external candidates (checked 20 October 2026).
• Air New Zealand, for outside applicants to its jet fleets: 1,500 hours in all, including 100 multi-engine, 40 instrument and 25 at night, and one of its external criteria, such as 12 months of multi-crew turboprop command; New Zealand citizens, permanent residents and residents, and Australian citizens and permanent residents (checked 17 October 2026).
• KLM: a type rating on a multi-pilot aircraft that you already hold, with an EASA ATPL or frozen ATPL; KLM then trains you on whichever of its fleets has training capacity (checked 13 October 2026).
• easyJet publishes on its careers page, undated, at least 1,000 flying hours with 500 on aircraft over 10 tonnes for non-type-rated co-pilots: a generic figure, not a live vacancy’s, that we could not check against one (checked 12 October 2026).

The record of Singapore Airlines gives no Second Officer minimums: ask the airline.

The wording of the hours matters: the hours requirements page compares every published minimum, and the low-hour pilot jobs page lists the First Officer doors at 500 hours or less.

Through a cadet program

Some airlines start cadets in the Second Officer seat:

• Cathay Pacific’s sponsored Cadet Pilot Programme, about 80 weeks and open to applications year-round, ends in the Second Officer seat in Hong Kong (checked 30 October 2026).
• Oman Air’s careers page names a Cadet Pilot scheme; as the press reports its intakes, it is an ATPL program for Omani nationals, trained at the Oman Aviation Academy in Sohar and Oman Air’s Flight Training Centre, whose cadets join as Second Officers (checked 22 October 2026).
• HK Express hired 11 Second Officers from the first intake of HKIAA’s cadet program, by its release of November 2025 (checked 30 October 2026).

Every airline-backed route from zero hours on our board is on the cadet programs page, with its intake status.

Named elsewhere, or under another name

These records name a Second Officer seat outside their entry routes, so the airlines are not in the list above:

• Jetstar’s older documents and a February 2022 posting gave 1,500 hours for its 787 Second Officers, and its undated FAQ for Australian and New Zealand applicants says it does not sponsor them; the hours it will ask when it reopens are among the points we could not confirm (checked 22 October 2026).
• Kenya Airways’ Second Officer postings of 2024, as job boards copied them, listed a 737NG or E190 rating only as an advantage and a two-year bond on the type rating course; whether that bond still applies is among the points we could not confirm (checked 21 October 2026).
• Pegasus’ 2026 Pilot Training Program for second-officer candidates, open to Turkish candidates, closed to applications on 2 March 2026, as the Turkish aviation news site AeroHaber reported it (checked 30 October 2026).
• Hong Kong Airlines is a partner airline of HKIAA’s Cadet Pilot Programme, whose graduates are offered preliminary interviews and possible conditional Second Officer offers (checked 30 October 2026).
• A Scoot Second Officer route for the jet fleets from 200 hours, which a job board listed without a date and which was not on Scoot’s portal, is among the points we could not confirm (checked 25 October 2026).
• Whether the pilots of Air Arabia’s CPL Airline Programme join as First or Second Officers is among the points we could not confirm (checked 22 October 2026).

And these airlines’ entry routes name a relief pilot’s seat under another title:

• Discover Airlines: First Officer A330 — Cruise Relief Pilot vacancy for widebody-experienced pilots (career.aero job 4444) (checked 30 October 2026).
• Air Canada: Direct entry First Officer: starts as First Officer on domestic aircraft or Relief Pilot on long-range international flights (checked 16 October 2026).
• South African Airways: Direct entry First Officer — status unconfirmed; SAA’s careers page sets 1,500 h with 200 h multi-engine; the role covers the P2 seat (second pilot) and the P3 seat (cruise relief pilot), as job boards’ copies of the 2024 and 2025 listings describe it (checked 23 October 2026).

How to read these vacancies

• Second Officer is not always the low-hour seat. KLM’s route asks for a multi-pilot type rating you already hold; Air New Zealand’s 1,500 hours from outside applicants; Qantas’ hours in command, with 2,000 in all preferred, as search-engine copies of its requirements showed them. Read the route, not the title.
• The hours may not count at your next airline. A cruise relief co-pilot may log all flight time as co-pilot when occupying a pilot’s seat (the UAE’s AMC1 FCL.050), and airlines set their own rules for their minimums: Emirates counts no P3 time toward the 2,000 hours of its First Officer streams (checked 12 October 2026); Riyadh Air counts only operating-seat time toward the 2,000 hours of its 787 First Officers, not Second Officer or flight engineer time (checked 17 October 2026); and KLM’s Martinair 747 freighter vacancy did not count hours flown as cruise relief co-pilot toward its 1,000 on multi-engine airplanes (checked 13 October 2026). Log your seat time apart from your rest time; the Library’s flight time logging article explains the rules.
• Takeoffs and landings. A cruise relief co-pilot is trained and checked without takeoffs (ORO.FC.A.201), and the First Officer routes you apply to later may count sectors as well as hours: Cathay Pacific’s First Officer route asks, on its larger-aircraft option, for 500 hours or 100 sectors in the preceding five years. Ask how many sectors you will fly as pilot flying.
• The bond, and the unpaid months. flydubai’s Second Officer Programme trains the 737 rating with no upfront cost under a USD 36,000 bond for 24 months, repaid by monthly salary deduction until you become a First Officer; its type rating phase, of about 3 months, is unpaid, and a USD 1,000 assessment fee is charged at the assessment (checked 20 October 2026); Kenya Airways’ 2024 Second Officer postings named a two-year bond on the type rating course, which may no longer apply (checked 21 October 2026). Ask for the bond’s terms in writing before you sign.
• Nationality and age gates. Qantas’ Second Officers must be Australian citizens or permanent residents, as search-engine copies of its requirements showed; Air New Zealand takes New Zealand and Australian citizens and residents; flydubai’s Second Officer Programme takes external candidates aged 20 to 35; Oman Air’s cadet intakes have been of Omani nationals, as the press reported them; Jet2, which asks for the right to live and work in the UK, says it is a Home Office–approved sponsor of Skilled Worker visas; Cathay Pacific bases every new Second Officer in Hong Kong, and how it handles work visas is among the points we could not confirm. The airlines that sponsor a visa are on the visa sponsorship page.
• The license may have to change state. Cathay Pacific’s Second Officers fly on a Hong Kong license, converted by Hong Kong’s Civil Aviation Department after joining; KLM asks for the license and the medical to be issued in the Netherlands, or converted at your own expense, before you start; Jet2 asks for a UK-issued license.
• Apply on the airline’s own pages. An agency advert is a copy of the airline’s; flydubai’s careers FAQ says it never asks for bank details to process documents and never refers candidates to a third party to process applications or visas. Never pay to apply. The non-type-rated First Officer jobs page lists the next seat up for pilots without a rating.

Before the seat comes the selection: the complete interview guide, and the Library’s airline pilot recruitment and selection and multi-crew cooperation courses articles.

Common questions

What is a Second Officer pilot? A pilot ranked below First Officer: the title is the airline’s, not a license. Some airlines give it to a pilot who relieves the co-pilot in the cruise on long flights, whom the rules call a cruise relief co-pilot; others to a co-pilot who has not yet reached their First Officer minimums. For example, flydubai’s Second Officers fly the 737 and become First Officers at 1,500 hours.

Which airlines hire Second Officers? 10 airlines on our jobs board name a Second Officer seat in their entry routes: flydubai, Qantas Group, Jet2.com, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, easyJet, KLM, Air New Zealand, HK Express and Oman Air. flydubai, Qantas Group, Jet2.com, Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines publish a route you apply to; easyJet, KLM and Air New Zealand place direct-entry pilots as Second or First Officer; HK Express and Oman Air fill the seat from cadet programs. At the last check 3 of the routes were closed, so check each one on the airline’s own careers page.

How many hours do you need to be a Second Officer? It depends on the airline: Jet2 asks for 100 hours, as search results showed its page in September 2026; Cathay Pacific for at least 250; Qantas, at the least, for 300 in command of multi-engine airplanes, as search-engine copies of its requirements showed; Air New Zealand for 1,500 from outside applicants to its jet fleets; and flydubai publishes no hours minimum for its Second Officer Programme. Read the license each one asks for too, on this page or on the airline’s own.

Does Second Officer time count toward a First Officer job? For the license, a cruise relief co-pilot may log all flight time as co-pilot while occupying a pilot’s seat, under the UAE’s CAR-FCL (AMC1 FCL.050). Airlines set their own rules for their minimums: Emirates counts no P3 time toward the 2,000 hours of its First Officer streams; Riyadh Air counts only operating-seat time toward the 2,000 hours of its 787 First Officers, not Second Officer or flight engineer time; and KLM’s Martinair 747 freighter vacancy did not count hours flown as cruise relief co-pilot toward its 1,000 on multi-engine airplanes. Log your seat time apart from your rest time, and ask the airline you apply to next.

Can a Second Officer take off and land? A cruise relief co-pilot, as EASA’s ORO.FC.A.201 sets out the role, relieves the co-pilot only above FL 200, and the operator’s conversion training for it leaves out takeoff and landing training; the recurrent checks include landings at least as pilot monitoring. Where an airline uses the title for a junior co-pilot, ask what the seat flies.