TUI Airline Pilot Requirements 2026: Hours, License and Hiring Process

TUI Airline is five airlines, each with its own pilots: TUI Airways in the UK and Ireland, TUI fly Belgium, TUI fly Netherlands, TUI fly Nordic in Sweden and TUI fly Germany. You apply to one of them, its air operator certificate (AOC), in each cycle, and you need what that country asks: a license issued for it and held before you apply, and the unrestricted right to live and work there, with an EU passport for the European AOCs, as TUI’s pilot FAQ states. Its 2026 vacancies were for First Officers, almost all on the B737: type-rated; non-type-rated, for pilots eligible for zero flight time training, which the postings defined as 500 hours or 100 route sectors on multi-pilot aircraft; and, in Belgium and the Netherlands, low-hour pilots below that. At the last check, on 18 October 2026, TUI’s careers site listed no pilot vacancy: the UK, Belgian and Dutch postings were gone and the Swedish ones had closed on 31 July 2026. TUI runs no MPL cadet intake in 2026. Its fleet is the 737-800 and 737 MAX 8, the 787-8 and 787-9 and, at TUI fly Belgium, the Embraer E195-E2.

Is TUI Airline hiring pilots now?

Not recruiting at the last check on 18 October 2026 — First Officer seat: Not recruiting; Captain seat: Not offered. No pilot vacancy on TUI’s careers site at the last check, on 18 October 2026; its 2026 First Officer postings went AOC by AOC, rated, non-rated from 500 h or 100 sectors on multi-pilot aircraft, and low-hour in Belgium and the Netherlands; no MPL cadet intake in 2026; no direct-entry Captain route

Requirements, as published

Five airlines: what changes with the one you choose

TUI’s pilot FAQ sets the rules that decide most applications before any test:

• One AOC per cycle. You may apply to only one country, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Sweden or the UK, and if you are unsuccessful you cannot apply to another in the same cycle or within 12 months; duplicate applications are not considered. Within that AOC you may apply for several First Officer positions: you complete the selection once, and TUI decides which position to offer.
• The license first. You must hold your license before you apply; finishing your training is not enough. For Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden it must be a valid EASA license, converted to the operating country if another EU state issued it; for the UK, a valid UK CAA license.
• The right to work, and the passport. You need the unrestricted right to live and work in the AOC’s country, and an EU passport for the European-based positions. The 2026 Belgian, Dutch and Swedish postings, in their copies, asked for an EU, Swiss or EEA passport valid for at least six months from the training start, and the UK posting offered no visa sponsorship.
• Zero flight time eligibility. The 2026 non-rated postings were open only to pilots eligible for zero flight time training under FCL.730.A, which they defined as 500 hours or 100 route sectors on a multi-pilot turbojet certificated to CS-25 or an equivalent code, or on a multi-pilot turboprop of at least 10 tonnes or with more than 19 passenger seats, so instructing and single-pilot hours do not count toward it. TUI’s FAQ adds that low-hour or military pilots who are not eligible also complete aircraft training, the base training in the airplane that zero flight time training replaces, and TUI fly Belgium’s 2026 “B737 Low Hour Pilot” posting, in search-result copies, was for pilots with less than 500 hours in total.
• Standby distance. TUI offers no housing and no commuting contracts, and you must reach your base within a set time on standby: 60 minutes at most bases and 120 in Belgium, its FAQ says, while the 2026 UK posting gave 90 minutes and the Swedish one 120. Choose where you live with that in mind.
• A rating that lasts. For a type-rated position the rating must be valid and current when your employment begins, and renewing or revalidating it before your start date is your responsibility.

What else differs from one AOC to the next, as TUI’s FAQ gives it:

Entry routes

• Direct entry First Officer, type-rated — in 2026 at the UK, Belgian, Dutch and Swedish AOCs: a valid B737 rating with base training completed or, at TUI fly Netherlands, a B777/787 rating for the B787, in the postings’ copies; none open on 18 October 2026
• Direct entry First Officer, B737, non-type-rated — in 2026 at the UK, Belgian and Swedish AOCs: eligible for zero flight time training, 500 h or 100 route sectors on multi-pilot aircraft; TUI trains the full type rating in-house; none open on 18 October 2026
• Low-hour and military pilots — TUI’s FAQ says those not eligible for zero flight time training also complete aircraft training; TUI fly Belgium’s June 2026 “B737 Low Hour Pilot” posting, in search-result copies, asked for less than 500 h in total, an EASA (frozen) ATPL and MCC and AUPRT certificates; a Dutch low-hour posting and a “Military Pilot – UK Bases (S26)” posting appear in search results, their terms not confirmed
• MPL Cadet Programme (UK) — no 2026 intake: TUI said the scheme is not needed to meet its pilot demand for summer 2028
• Direct entry Captain — not published: TUI’s pilot FAQ and its 2026 vacancies are for First Officers, and the FAQ names Captain as a step within TUI

TUI beside other European airlines

TUI beside four other European airlines on our jobs board, as recorded at each airline’s last check:

Read the right-to-work column first: at TUI it is set by the AOC you apply to, not by the group, and an EU passport opens the European AOCs but not the UK one.

Selection process

1. One application, to one AOC (the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Sweden or the UK) per cycle; within it you may apply for several First Officer positions and complete the selection once
2. Psychometric assessments (TUI’s pilot FAQ): online, after a CV screening, in TUI fly Netherlands’ late-2025 type-rated posting, as search results showed it
3. Assessment center (TUI’s pilot FAQ): at TUI’s Rijswijk head office in that Dutch posting
4. Simulator assessment (TUI’s pilot FAQ): at CAE Schiphol in that Dutch posting
5. Psychological assessment, with alcohol and drug screening: the last step of that Dutch posting
6. The Pilot Talent Pool, for up to 12 months while bases are finalized; offers follow business needs

The rules around the selection, and the training after it

TUI’s FAQ adds the rules that apply to every stage:

• In English. Every assessment and interview is held in English, the operational language across TUI Airline.
• At your own cost. TUI does not pay travel or accommodation for the selection.
• Two attempts. You may apply for a First Officer position at TUI Airline up to twice. If a first application ends at the psychometric assessments, the assessment center or the simulator assessment, you may re-apply after a year; a second failure ends it.
• The talent pool. Successful candidates join the Pilot Talent Pool while base requirements are finalized, for up to 12 months, with regular e-mail updates. Offers follow business needs, so some bases and candidates hear before others, and a candidate who receives no offer can submit a new application.

After an offer, training is in-house. It starts with an induction by the pilot management team, then safety equipment and procedures training and the B737 or B787 flight training: an operator conversion course for type-rated pilots, a full type rating for non-rated pilots, and aircraft training as well for low-hour or military pilots who are not eligible for zero flight time training, then line training sectors with the training team and a line check. UK applicants train entirely in the UK; for the European AOCs the theory is taught in the base country and the simulator sessions may be held at centers across Europe or the UK, Berlin, Barcelona, Vienna and Gatwick among them, with accommodation covered when training takes you abroad. Rosters then follow no fixed pattern, with about five to six weeks of visibility.

Bases and fleet

Bases: Manchester · London Gatwick · Birmingham · Brussels · Amsterdam · Hanover · Stockholm · Gothenburg

Fleet: B737-800 / MAX 8 · B787-8 / -9 · Embraer E195-E2 (TUI fly Belgium)

How to prepare

Almost every 2026 vacancy we found was for the 737, so the B737 bank below is the core preparation, with the 737 NG to MAX quiz for what the MAX 8 changed from the 737-800; the B787 bank covers the 787s that TUI Airways and TUI fly Netherlands fly long-haul (TUI fly Netherlands also posted a rated B787 vacancy in 2026), and the E-Jet bank the E195-E2s of TUI fly Belgium. TUI’s FAQ names three selection stages, psychometric assessments, an assessment center and a simulator assessment, and TUI fly Netherlands’ late-2025 type-rated posting ended with a psychological assessment: practice timed reasoning well before you apply, prepare the CRM side with the CRM interview set, and revise the theory with the ATPL theory banks. Do the paperwork first: hold your license before you apply, and if another EU state issued your EASA license, know that Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden want it converted to their country; count your multi-pilot hours or route sectors against the zero flight time threshold; and, as a rated pilot, keep your rating current to your start date, since TUI leaves its renewal to you.

TUI has no interview guide on v1prep yet, so for the selection read the complete airline pilot interview guide and the Library’s pilot aptitude tests, competency-based pilot interviews and airline simulator assessment; how zero flight time training replaces base training in the airplane is explained in its flight simulation training devices. For the aircraft, our 737 NG to MAX Difference Training course sets out what changed from the 737-800 to the MAX, and our top 25 B737 type rating questions are a quick check. In the UK, compare Jet2.com pilot requirements, which also flies the 737 from UK bases; in the Netherlands, KLM pilot requirements. Check TUI’s entry on the jobs board for the latest status.

What we could not confirm

• Read directly on 18 October 2026: TUI’s global pilot FAQ, a search of its careers site for pilot vacancies, and the pages of three Belgian and Dutch postings and two older vacancies, which showed only the careers site’s general content. From job-board copies and search-engine results, 21 September to 18 October 2026: the 2026 vacancies and their requirements, the Dutch posting’s selection steps, the MPL decision and the fleet. Confirm a vacancy is open before you apply.
• When TUI next recruits pilots, and at which AOCs: its FAQ gives training starts from June in the Netherlands, from August in Belgium and from late October to November in the UK and Sweden, but no recruitment dates
• The hours asked of type-rated First Officers: the 2026 copies we read gave none; older UK postings asked for 100 h, or 500 h, on the B737
• The terms of TUI fly Netherlands’ 2026 “B737 Low Hour Pilot” posting and of the UK military pilot route, and the rest of TUI fly Belgium’s low-hour posting beyond its hours, license, MCC and AUPRT
• Whether the selection steps of TUI fly Netherlands’ late-2025 posting, from the online psychometric assessment to the psychological assessment, apply at every AOC
• Who pays for a non-rated or low-hour pilot’s type rating, and any bond: TUI publishes neither in the material we read

These points are not published clearly by the airline. Treat them as leads, not facts, and confirm them on the careers page: careers page.

Common questions

Is TUI hiring pilots? Not at the last check, on 18 October 2026: a search of TUI’s careers site found no pilot vacancy. In 2026 it had posted First Officer vacancies for its UK, Belgian, Dutch and Swedish airlines, type-rated, non-type-rated and, in Belgium and the Netherlands, low-hour, but the UK, Belgian and Dutch postings were gone and the Swedish ones closed on 31 July 2026. TUI recruits AOC by AOC, so watch its careers site for the country you can work in.

How many hours do you need to fly for TUI? For a non-type-rated First Officer, the 2026 postings asked you to be eligible for zero flight time training: 500 hours or 100 route sectors on a multi-pilot turbojet, or on a multi-pilot turboprop of at least 10 tonnes or with more than 19 seats. Below that, TUI’s FAQ says low-hour pilots complete aircraft training as well, and TUI fly Belgium’s 2026 low-hour posting, in search-result copies, asked for less than 500 hours in total. The type-rated postings asked for a valid rating with base training completed, or a completed line check in an older Dutch posting, and gave no hours figure in the copies we read.

Can I apply to more than one TUI airline? No. TUI’s FAQ allows one country per application, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Sweden or the UK, and if you are unsuccessful you cannot apply to another in the same cycle or within 12 months. Within that country you may apply for several First Officer positions: you complete the selection once, and TUI decides which position to offer.

Do I need an EU passport to fly for TUI? For its European-based positions, yes: TUI’s FAQ asks for an EU passport and the unrestricted right to live and work in the AOC’s country. For the UK you need the unrestricted right to live and work in the UK, and the 2026 UK posting offered no visa sponsorship.

Does TUI run a cadet program? Not in 2026. TUI decided not to run its MPL Cadet Programme in 2026, saying the scheme is not needed to meet its pilot demand for summer 2028, as its MPL FAQ said in search results and Flight Training News reported on 2 January 2026. Until an intake reopens, watch the First Officer postings of the AOC you can work in.