Vueling Pilot Requirements 2026: Hours, Licence and Hiring Process

Vueling recruits pilots in calls rather than continuously, and when its careers site was read on 25 August 2026 no pilot vacancy was open: it showed a closed call for pilots, its last direct-entry advert, for A320 First Officers in 2026, was no longer active, and the FTEJerez Vueling MAPS cadet scheme was closed for applications. Only an expression-of-interest talent pool for pilots remained, and a search on 12 October 2026 found no newer call. That last advert is the most recent standard Vueling published: an ATPL, frozen or unfrozen; a Spanish EASA licence and ICAO English Level 4, both required before the Operator Conversion Course rather than at application; a Class 1; and one hours line, “200 Factorized Vueling Hours”, which Vueling does not define and which cannot safely be read as 200 hours of total time. Non-type-rated pilots were accepted, with A320, A330 or A340 experience an advantage. No direct-entry Captain vacancy has been found, and IAG has allocated its order for 50 Boeing 737s to Vueling, with the first three due in the fourth quarter of 2026.

Is Vueling hiring pilots now?

Not recruiting at the last check on 12 October 2026 — First Officer seat: Not recruiting; Captain seat: Not offered. Hiring paused: no pilot vacancy and MAPS cadet closed — only the talent pool open

Requirements, as published

Reading the last advert line by line

Every requirement above comes from the closed A320 First Officer advert that ran around October 2025. When we checked it on 25 August 2026 its archived original could not be re-read, and the wording was confirmed through independent copies of the same advert, so treat it as Vueling’s last published standard, not as live criteria.

• “200 Factorized Vueling Hours”. The only hours figure Vueling published, and it defines neither “factorized” nor “Vueling hours”. Read literally, it refers to hours flown at Vueling under a factoring formula, not to your logbook total, and job sites that turn it into 200 or 300 hours contradict each other. Do not rule yourself in or out on it: ask Vueling how it applies to you.
• “Be a First Officer with a Spanish EASA licence”. The Spanish licence is required by the start of the Operator Conversion Course, not at application, but Vueling does not say whether it will take an application with a transfer still in progress. The wording also asks you to be a First Officer already, which points to pilots with airline experience, although a frozen ATPL is accepted.
• English Level 4 by the same deadline. ICAO Level 4 or higher must be held before the Operator Conversion Course begins.
• No type rating needed. Previous flying hours on, or current operation of, the A320, A330 or A340 is “an advantage”, not a requirement. The advert does not say who pays for the conversion course, or whether it is bonded.
• Not published: any age limit, any nationality, right-to-work or visa statement, any hours-on-type figure, and the base. The advert gave the location as Vueling’s head office at Viladecans, Barcelona, not an operating base.

Entry routes

• Direct entry First Officer A320 (non-type-rated accepted — frozen ATPL is sufficient; A320 experience listed only as 'an advantage'). Currently CLOSED.
• Cadet / ab-initio via Vueling MAPS (Mentored Airline Pilot Scheme) with FTEJerez, MPL syllabus including A320 type rating. Currently CLOSED for applications.
• Direct entry Captain — NOT published. No direct-entry Captain vacancy was found on careers.vueling.com or in any source we found. This is an absence of evidence, not a confirmed Vueling policy that it never recruits Captains directly.

Vueling and the other IAG airlines

Vueling is part of IAG, which has allocated its 737 order to Vueling, and each IAG airline on our jobs board publishes its own pilot vacancies and requirements. As recorded at each airline’s last check:

The routes into Vueling itself are the A320 First Officer call, when it reopens, and the Vueling MAPS, a Mentored Airline Pilot Scheme with FTEJerez that trains selected cadets on the MPL syllabus, including the A320 type rating, with a view to joining Vueling; an earlier edition selected up to 24 cadets to join in 2024. On 25 August 2026 FTEJerez said the MAPS “will return”, but that it was closed for applications.

Selection process

1. Not published on Vueling's own careers site — the First Officer A320 vacancy listed eligibility requirements only, with no description of assessment stages.
2. Vueling does publish that an 'Operator Conversion Course' (OCC) follows selection, and that the Spanish EASA licence and ICAO English Level 4 must be held before the OCC begins.
3. REPORTED BY THIRD PARTIES, UNVERIFIED: aircraft general knowledge and operational procedures test
4. REPORTED BY THIRD PARTIES, UNVERIFIED: English written and listening assessment
5. REPORTED BY THIRD PARTIES, UNVERIFIED: psychometric testing
6. REPORTED BY THIRD PARTIES, UNVERIFIED: personal interview and role-play exercise
7. REPORTED BY THIRD PARTIES, UNVERIFIED: simulator assessment

Bases and fleet

Bases: Barcelona-El Prat (main base; HQ at Viladecans - Barcelona) · Bilbao · Málaga · Palma de Mallorca · Seville · Valencia · Alicante · Gran Canaria · Tenerife · Paris-Orly · Rome-Fiumicino · Florence

Fleet: A319, A320 and A321: Vueling’s own help page describes a fleet of more than 100 Airbus aircraft flying more than 300 routes to over 150 destinations · About 140 aircraft in 2025 (ch-aviation), including A320neo and A321neo sub-types (third-party sourced) · Boeing 737 MAX: IAG has allocated its order for 50 Boeing 737s to Vueling (25 737-8-200 and 25 737-10), with the first three due in the fourth quarter of 2026 and the rest between 2027 and 2029; IAG holds options for 100 more (IAG results 2026; ch-aviation)

How to prepare

Vueling’s fleet is the A320 family, A319, A320 and A321, so the A320 bank is the preparation for the Operator Conversion Course a new First Officer starts with. The 737s IAG has allocated to Vueling change that over the next few years, and Vueling has not published which type a new joiner would train on, so learn the main differences with the B737 bank as well. Vueling publishes no selection stages. Third parties report an aircraft knowledge and procedures test, an English assessment, psychometric testing, an interview with a role play and a simulator, none of which appears on Vueling’s own pages; prepare for them quietly, with the ATPL theory banks for the knowledge behind them, and do not present them to a panel as Vueling’s process.

Our Vueling pilot interview guide covers the reported stages, the simulator standard and technical questions on the A320 family and the 737, including what changes between the A319 and the A321. For the 737, the Library covers pitch control and stabiliser trim and the hydraulic system. Check Vueling’s entry on the jobs board for the latest status.

What we could not confirm

• Social-media posts by a training provider (AET Aviation, autumn 2026) advertise a Vueling non-type-rated A320 First Officer campaign based Barcelona. This was NOT confirmed on careers.vueling.com in search results on 21 September 2026 — the status here still reflects the direct read of 25 August 2026. Check the Vueling careers page before relying on either.
• Meaning of '200 Factorized Vueling Hours' — Vueling does not define 'factorized' or 'Vueling hours' anywhere on its careers site. Aggregators contradict each other (300 vs 200). Treat as undefined.
• Whether the A320 type rating is provided, bonded or must be self-funded — not stated by Vueling. Claims that Vueling pays for the OCC under the SEPLA collective agreement and has ended pay-to-fly come from third-party career blogs only.
• All selection process stages listed above — sourced from third-party pilot-jobs sites and training providers, never from Vueling's own site.
• Age limits — no source found, on Vueling's site or elsewhere, that Vueling publishes any.
• Right-to-work / visa policy — not published; the Spanish EASA licence requirement is an inference about the practical gate, not a quoted Vueling statement.
• Base list — INCOMPLETE and third-party. Only Barcelona is corroborated by Vueling's own domain (vacancy location + corporate 'About Vueling' text). The remaining bases come from Wikipedia and industry sites and may be out of date; Madrid, A Coruña and Asturias bases were reported closed. The 25 Aug 2026 check additionally found London-Gatwick, Amsterdam, Santiago de Compostela and Ibiza (seasonal) described as Vueling bases by third parties, none of which is in the base list here, so that list is neither complete nor current. Vueling did not state an operating base in the FO advert; it gave only the HQ location.
• An Instagram post claiming 'Vueling's 2026 pilot recruitment season is open' was found; this matches the FO A320 - 2026 advert that ran around Oct 2025 and has since closed. It does NOT indicate a currently open call.

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 Vueling hiring pilots? Not at the last check, on 12 October 2026, when a search found no newer call. On 25 August 2026 Vueling’s careers site showed no pilot vacancy and a closed call for pilots, the last direct-entry advert for A320 First Officers was no longer active, and the FTEJerez MAPS cadet scheme was closed for applications. Only an expression-of-interest talent pool for pilots was open. Job sites still presenting the old advert as live are mirrors of the closed call.

What does “200 factorized Vueling hours” mean? Vueling does not say. It is the only hours figure in its last First Officer advert, and Vueling defines neither “factorized” nor “Vueling hours”. Read literally, it refers to hours flown at Vueling under a factoring formula rather than to total logbook time, and job sites quoting 200 or 300 hours contradict each other, so it cannot safely be read as a 200-hour total-time minimum. Ask Vueling how it applies to you.

Does Vueling hire non-type-rated pilots? Its last First Officer advert did: it accepted a frozen or full ATPL with no A320 rating, listed A320, A330 or A340 experience only as an advantage, and described an Operator Conversion Course after joining. It did not say who pays for that course or whether it is bonded.

Will Vueling pilots fly the Boeing 737? IAG has allocated its order for 50 Boeing 737s to Vueling, 25 737-8-200s and 25 737-10s, with the first three due in the fourth quarter of 2026 and the rest between 2027 and 2029, and IAG holds options for 100 more. Vueling has not published how the new type affects recruitment or which type a new First Officer would train on, so ask when you apply.

Do you need a Spanish licence to fly for Vueling? By the start of the Operator Conversion Course, yes: the last advert asked you to be a First Officer with a Spanish EASA licence, required before that course rather than at application. Vueling publishes no nationality, right-to-work or visa statement.