Turkish Airlines Pilot Requirements 2026: Hours, Licence and Hiring Process
Turkish Airlines publishes no standing minimums for experienced pilots: hours, licence and age appear only inside each campaign’s advert, and when we read its careers portal on 25 August 2026 no cockpit vacancy was open. What it does publish is the shape of the job. Its hiring categories are Captain, First Officer, Cadet and Simulator Flight Instructor; experienced pilots are screened over three days in Istanbul at the airline’s expense; foreign pilots are employed on a work permit the airline arranges, with a commuting roster of three weeks on and one off; and pilots retire at 65. The cadet route, Take-Off Cadet, is for Turkish citizens and blue-card holders with a bachelor’s degree and no previous pilot training of any kind.
Always confirm on the airline’s own careers page before applying. Every figure here is what the airline published at the date shown against it on our jobs board; entries marked Unconfirmed are ones whose requirements we found but whose current vacancy status we could not establish from the airline’s own pages. Vacancies open and close without notice.
- Is Turkish Airlines hiring pilots now?
- How Turkish Airlines recruits
- Requirements, as published
- What Turkish Airlines does publish, and what it means
- Entry routes
- Joining as a foreign pilot
- Take-Off Cadet: who can apply, and what it costs
- Selection process
- Reading the three-day screening
- Bases and fleet
- Fleet changes that decide where new pilots fly
- How to prepare
- What we could not confirm
- Common questions
Is Turkish Airlines hiring pilots now?
Unconfirmed at the last check on 25 August 2026 — First Officer seat: Unconfirmed; Captain seat: Unconfirmed. No pilot vacancies open today — THY recruits in campaign windows, not year-round
What the airline’s own material showed: As of 25 Aug 2026 Turkish Airlines' own careers portal (careers.turkishairlines.com) lists ZERO open positions in every category, including Cockpit Crew — the page renders its explicit 'no postings' empty state with a 'Remind Me When There Are Vacant Positions' button, on both the EN and TR versions. The dedicated cockpit application portal (apply.turkishairlines.com) redirects its 'Jobs' link to that same empty list, and the Announcements page is empty. No dated statement of hiring, pooling or pausing is published anywhere on THY's own domains, so status is reported as unknown rather than inferred. THY has no standing pilot advert: recruitment runs in campaign windows, so an empty list today does not mean the door is shut — it means there is nothing open to apply to right now.
How Turkish Airlines recruits
Turkish Airlines recruits in campaign windows. When none is open, its careers portal shows an empty list with a button to be told when vacancies appear, and the separate cockpit application site points to the same list. Each campaign’s advert carries its own hours, licence and birth-date window, and closed adverts on the careers site lose their text, so a requirement you read on a job board may belong to a campaign that ended long ago.
The scale is large. Turkish aviation press has reported a plan to recruit 5,698 cockpit crew between 2026 and 2036, starting with 460 pilots in 2026 and peaking at 688 in 2030, most of them trained through the airline’s own academy (AeroHaber). Turkish Airlines states that pilot applications are taken only through careers.turkishairlines.com. Flight Crew International describes itself as an official Turkish Airlines recruitment agent with regular screenings in Istanbul; if an agent contacts you, check that the campaign exists on the airline’s portal, and never pay a fee.
Requirements, as published
| Requirement | As published by the airline |
|---|---|
| Licence | Experienced entry (FO / Captain): NOT PUBLISHED. THY's cockpit crew page names Captain, First Officer, Cadet and SFI as hiring categories but publishes no licence criteria; requirements appear only inside individual vacancies while they are open, and no vacancy is open today. Cadet route: the OPPOSITE of a licence requirement — applicants must NOT have taken part in any previous pilot training programme (PPL, CPL, ATPL etc.), per the Turkish Airlines Flight Academy FAQ. |
| Minimum hours | Not published |
| Hours on type | Not published |
| Type rating | Not published for experienced entry. Cadet route: training is provided with no fee during training, and the cost is recovered afterwards by deducting 1/4 of salary during the compulsory service period following graduation (THY Flight Academy FAQ). THY does not state on its own site how the cadet type rating itself is funded or bonded separately. |
| Right to work | Cadet route: must be a Turkish citizen or hold a blue card (published). Experienced entry: no nationality or visa criteria published, but THY states it employs pilots of different nationalities, runs an 'Expat Relations Department' for expat pilots, and that a Turkish work permit takes about 4 weeks to obtain. |
| Medical | No medical class (e.g. EASA/ICAO Class 1) is published. THY publishes only that applicants must obtain a fit-to-fly report from medical centres authorised by the Turkish civil aviation authority, and that the medical check is the final selection stage and is paid for by Turkish Airlines. Cadet route adds published physical criteria: height not less than 160 cm and not more than 195 cm, body-mass index in the range 20-30, and compliance with health criteria determined by Turkish Airlines. |
| English | No ICAO English level is published. Cadet route requires a Foreign Language (English) Certificate, and selection includes an online English exam (THY Flight Academy FAQ). Blue-card holders and multiple-citizenship candidates must also speak Turkish fluently and understandably. |
| Age | No standing age limit is published. THY publishes only that pilots retire at 65. The Flight Academy FAQ refers to 'age criteria' but states no figure, directing candidates to the live vacancy. Age is set per campaign inside each advert as a birth-date window, not as an age in years: the (now closed) Take-Off Cadet 2025-1 advert on THY's own apply portal required candidates 'born after 01.01.1995 and before 31.12.2004' — roughly ages 20-30 at that campaign. That window applied to that campaign only and must NOT be read as a current requirement; the next campaign will carry its own dates. IMPORTANT for eligibility: the 'under 35' cadet age cap widely repeated on job boards is contradicted by the only age criterion THY has actually published, so do not rely on it. |
| Also | The decisive finding for pilots: Turkish Airlines publishes NO standing entry requirements for experienced pilots — no hours, no licence type, no type-rating policy, no age limit — anywhere on its own domains. Those figures exist only inside individual vacancy adverts while they are live. Archived adverts on the careers site now return pages with the content stripped; one older advert on the apply portal (cadet 2025-1) is still readable but is closed and campaign-specific, and no experienced-pilot advert with hours or licence figures was readable anywhere. The only substantive criteria THY currently publishes are for the cadet route, on the Flight Academy site, and that route is effectively closed to anyone who already flies: prior pilot training of any kind (PPL/CPL/ATPL) is a disqualifier, and it is restricted to Turkish citizens and blue-card holders. Any hours figure or age limit quoted for THY on job boards cannot be confirmed against THY's own site today. |
What Turkish Airlines does publish, and what it means
- The medical is a Turkish one. No ICAO medical class is named. Turkish Airlines asks for a fit-to-fly report from a medical centre authorised by the Turkish civil aviation authority, done as the last selection stage and paid for by the airline. Your own Class 1 is not mentioned as a substitute.
- English is tested, not just listed. No ICAO level is published. Cadets start with an online English exam, and candidates for experienced posts report spoken English being probed in the panel. Blue-card and multiple-citizenship cadet applicants must also speak Turkish fluently.
- Age is a birth-date window, set per campaign. There is no standing age limit, only the retirement age of 65. The closed Take-Off Cadet 2025-1 advert, for example, took candidates born between 1 January 1995 and 31 December 2004, which contradicts the “under 35” cadet limit repeated on job boards.
- A one-year minimum and a training debt. The minimum contract period is one year, and a pilot who leaves sooner repays the training received.
- Hours on job boards are not Turkish Airlines figures. Older adverts relayed by Turkish aviation press, some of them open only to Turkish citizens and blue-card holders, set a frozen ATPL as the First Officer floor, counted hours on aircraft above 27 tonnes and asked applicants to accept living at the base they were assigned to. The specific hours quoted on job boards for A330 First Officers or A320 Captains appear on no Turkish Airlines page we could read.
Entry routes
- Cadet / ab-initio (Take-Off Cadet, trained at Turkish Airlines Flight Academy) — the only route with published criteria
- Direct entry First Officer (listed by THY as a hiring category; no criteria published)
- Direct entry Captain (listed by THY as a hiring category; no criteria published)
- Simulator Flight Instructor (SFI) (listed by THY as a hiring category; no criteria published)
Joining as a foreign pilot
Turkish Airlines says it employs pilots of many nationalities and runs an Expat Relations Department for them. The airline arranges the work permit, which takes about four weeks; Turkish courses are available in Istanbul for those who want them; and First Officers and Captains can choose a commuting roster of three weeks on and one week off, which lets an expat keep a home abroad. Private health insurance covers the pilot, and family members can be added for a small fee.
One part of the record is worth knowing before you sign. In August 2020, during the pandemic, the Turkish civil aviation authority asked airlines for their views on letting foreign pilots and cabin crew go before Turkish staff (Bloomberg), and from 1 November 2020 Turkish Airlines put foreign pilots on unpaid leave, to be reviewed after six months (Bloomberg, October 2020); it later recalled them as demand returned (aeroTelegraph). In that downturn, expat contracts were the first to feel it.
AJet, the group’s low-cost airline at Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen, recruits separately. Turkish aviation press reports that it gives its First Officers command training free of charge against a three-year commitment, and that after at least three years at AJet the time counts towards seniority on a move to Turkish Airlines (AeroHaber).
Take-Off Cadet: who can apply, and what it costs
The cadet route is the opposite of a direct-entry route: applicants must not have taken part in any pilot training programme before, PPL, CPL and ATPL included, so a pilot who has started training privately is excluded. The published criteria are Turkish citizenship or a blue card; at least a bachelor’s degree, formal or open education, completed within six years and one month of registering (seven years and one month with a language preparatory year); military service completed or deferred for at least two years; a height of 160 to 195 cm and a body-mass index of 20 to 30; a clean criminal record; and an English certificate. Selection runs through an online English exam, psychometric tests, a competency assessment and an HR and technical assessment before the health stages.
Training at the Turkish Airlines Flight Academy takes 14 to 16 months: theory at Aydın Çıldır, flying at Aydın, Uşak, Adana, Kütahya, Selçuk-Efes and Bodrum on the Cessna 172, Diamond DA40 and DA42 and Extra NG. Trainees are paid a monthly salary with accommodation or rent support, and graduates join as II. Pilot Candidates. There is no fee during training: the cost is recovered afterwards by deducting a quarter of salary during a compulsory service period (Flight Academy FAQ).
A 2026 campaign was relayed by Turkish aviation sites and forums in February and March 2026, with applications closing on 27 March and a birth-date window of 1 January 1996 to 31 December 2005. We could not read it on Turkish Airlines’ own pages, and no cadet campaign was open on 25 August 2026.
Selection process
- Experienced pilots — 3-day screening, Monday to Wednesday inclusive of the medical, travel and accommodation paid by Turkish Airlines:
- 1. CRM / Group Assessment Application: psychometric assessment
- 2. Document and License Check: validity and compliance with the criteria is checked
- 3. Simulator Check: assessment of flying skills
- 4. Panel Interview: competency-based interview
- 5. Medical Check: at a private medical institution, covered by Turkish Airlines (fit-to-fly report from an authorised centre)
- Result communicated within 1-3 weeks after the assessment process
- Cadet (Take-Off Cadet) — separate process: Online English exam, Psychometric Test Assessments, Competency Assessment, HR and Business Unit Technical Assessment, then health stages
Reading the three-day screening
The steps above are published; the order has consequences. The screening runs Monday to Wednesday, with travel and accommodation paid by Turkish Airlines. It opens with the CRM and group assessment, so the psychometric side is judged before anyone sees you fly. The document and licence check tests your papers against the campaign’s criteria, so bring the originals of everything the invitation lists, including logbooks. The medical comes last: a candidate can pass the simulator and the panel and still fail on the final day, so bring your medical records and declare everything. The result follows within one to three weeks.
Bases and fleet
Bases: not published
Fleet: not published
Fleet changes that decide where new pilots fly
Turkish Airlines publishes no base or fleet allocation for new pilots, but its orders show where seats will appear.
- Both narrow-body families keep growing. On 23 September 2026 the airline finalised an order for 100 737-8s with options for 50 more, for delivery from 2033 to 2037, after a year of talks held up over engine terms (Boeing), and its 2023 agreement with Airbus covers up to 355 A321neos and A350s for delivery from 2026 to 2036. A320 and 737 pilots both stay relevant.
- Wide-body growth arrives later. The 787 order of September 2025, 35 787-9s and 15 787-10s with options for 25 more, delivers from 2029 to 2034 (Boeing).
- Scale. The fleet reached 566 aircraft at the end of August 2026, up from 501 a year earlier (company traffic figures, reported by Yeni Şafak), and the target is more than 800 by 2033.
- The hub. Istanbul Airport (IST) is the main base; AJet flies from Sabiha Gökçen.
How to prepare
Because the next campaign’s figures are unknown, prepare by staying eligible: keep your type current, keep the originals of every document ready for the licence check, and use the vacancy alert on the careers portal. Turkish Airlines flies the A320 family and the 737 side by side, so go deep on your own type with the A320 bank or the B737 bank, and use the ATPL theory banks for the panel’s technical questions. The screening opens with a psychometric group assessment, so practise timed reasoning tests as well.
Our Turkish Airlines pilot interview guide covers the simulator, the panel and the technical questions for A320 and 737 pilots. For your own type, the Library covers the A320 flight control laws and the 737 hydraulic system, among others. Check Turkish Airlines’ entry on the jobs board for the latest status.
What we could not confirm
- Search results on 21 September 2026 show Flight Crew International describing itself as an official Turkish Airlines recruitment agent seeking type-rated and non-type-rated pilots, with weekly five-day screenings in Istanbul, and PilotsGlobal relaying an A330 First Officer posting (1,500 h, ATPL). Neither was confirmed on careers.turkishairlines.com, which showed no cockpit vacancies when read directly on 25 August 2026.
- Current recruitment status — no dated statement of hiring, pooling or pausing exists on any THY-owned page. The empty vacancy list is evidence there is nothing open to apply to today, not evidence of a declared pause.
- Minimum total hours for direct entry First Officer — not published by THY in any form.
- Minimum total hours / PIC hours for direct entry Captain — not published.
- Hours on type for any experienced role — not published.
- Licence required for experienced entry (ATPL vs frozen ATPL, EASA vs Turkish SHGM issue, licence conversion requirements) — not published.
- Type rating policy for experienced entry (required, provided, or bonded) — not published.
- Medical class (Class 1 or equivalent) — THY states only 'fit-to-fly report from authorised centres'; the class is never named.
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 Turkish Airlines hiring pilots now? There was no cockpit vacancy open when we read its careers portal on 25 August 2026. Turkish Airlines recruits in campaign windows rather than year-round, and Turkish aviation press reports a plan to recruit 5,698 cockpit crew between 2026 and 2036, so an empty list means nothing is open today, not that hiring has stopped. The portal offers an alert for new vacancies.
How many hours do you need to fly for Turkish Airlines? Turkish Airlines publishes no standing figure. Hours, licence and age are set inside each campaign’s advert, and adverts lose their text when they close. Figures on job boards are not confirmed by any Turkish Airlines page, so read the advert of the campaign you apply to.
Does Turkish Airlines hire foreign pilots? Yes. It says it employs pilots of many nationalities, arranges their work permits (about four weeks), runs an Expat Relations Department and offers a commuting roster of three weeks on and one week off. The cadet route, by contrast, is for Turkish citizens and blue-card holders only.
Can I join the Turkish Airlines cadet programme if I already have a PPL? No. The Flight Academy excludes anyone who has taken part in a previous pilot training programme, PPL, CPL or ATPL included. Take-Off Cadet is for university graduates with no flying training, who are trained from zero at the academy.
Is there an age limit for Turkish Airlines pilots? No standing limit is published apart from retirement at 65. Each campaign sets a birth-date window instead: the closed Take-Off Cadet 2025-1 advert took candidates born between 1 January 1995 and 31 December 2004, and the 2026 cadet campaign was reported with a window of 1996 to 2005. Experienced-pilot adverts set windows of their own.
Prepare for the assessment, not just the application
Getting the interview is the easy half. v1prep has 15,000+ technical questions with every answer cited to its source — A320, B737, EASA ATPL theory and the FAA writtens.
Start practising free →