Wizz Air Pilot Requirements 2026: Hours, Licence and Hiring Process
Wizz Air takes every pilot application through one form, and the first choice on it is binding: Wizz Air Hungary, Malta or UK, which cannot be changed during the process. Hungary and Malta want an EASA ATPL, or a CPL with the full ATPL theory, and an EASA Class 1; Wizz Air UK wants the UK CAA equivalents. The published minimums are low at the bottom and specific at the top: 140 hours for a cadet First Officer from integrated training (200 from modular), 500 hours for an experienced First Officer and 3,500 factorised hours for a Captain. ICAO English Level 4, the right to work in the EU or in a named list of non-EU countries, no visa sponsorship and no published age limit. Non-rated pilots are given the A320 type rating on terms Wizz Air does not publish.
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 Wizz Air hiring pilots now?
- Requirements, as published
- Which route your hours fit
- Right to work: who can apply, AOC by AOC
- Entry routes
- What the academy routes cost
- Selection process
- Bases and fleet
- Fleet and bases: what decides where a new pilot flies
- How to prepare
- What we could not confirm
- Common questions
Wizz Air interview study guide29-page PDF · 64 interview questions · €4.99GET THE PDF
Is Wizz Air hiring pilots now?
Recruiting at the last check on 25 August 2026 — First Officer seat: Talent pool; Captain seat: Recruiting. Dated assessment events are Captain-only; FO applications go into the pool.
What the airline’s own material showed: Status is 'hiring' on two pieces of evidence re-confirmed on Wizz Air's own domain on 25 August 2026: (1) the general 'Pilot Application Form' vacancy is live on careers.wizzair.com and accepts all pilot categories, and (2) the cadet programmes publish explicit 2026 course start dates (WAPA 12/10/2026; She Can Fly 25 May 2026 and 12 October 2026). Evidence is NOT uniform across routes. Captain: the Pilot Jobs page lists Wizz Air Hungary Budapest assessment events on 25-26 August, 3-4 September and 23-24 September with open positions 'TR DEC, NTR DEC, TR DEC Program, NTR DEC Program' (Direct Entry Captain routes only), and Wizz Air Malta events in Rome 15-18 October and Spain 21-24 and 25-28 October — but ALL of these event dates are printed without a year. First Officer: no dated assessment event is advertised for the Hungary AOC at all, and the previously separate rated-FO postings are closed ('Sorry, this position has been filled'). Wizz Air UK shows 'No Recruitment Events at the moment'. A First Officer should read this as 'applications open, pool entry' — not as a confirmed active FO campaign.
Requirements, as published
| Requirement | As published by the airline |
|---|---|
| Licence | Wizz Air Hungary AOC: valid EASA licence (ATPL or CPL). If holding CPL(A), full ATPL theory must be completed (certificate issued by the appropriate CAA or endorsed in the licence). Sister AOCs differ: Wizz Air Malta also requires EASA ATPL/CPL; Wizz Air UK requires UK CAA ATPL/CPL. |
| Minimum hours | Varies by route, all as published on the Pilot Jobs page. Direct Entry Captain (all four variants): minimum 3,500 factorized hours. Experienced First Officer, non-type-rated: minimum 500 hrs on a certified MPA MET aeroplane in a CAT operator environment. Experienced First Officer, A320 type rated: minimum 500 hrs on A320. Cadet First Officer (type rated or non-type-rated): minimum 140 hrs actual flight time on fixed wing via ATP integrated training, OR minimum 200 hrs via CPL/IR modular training. Simulator hours are excluded from all figures; ultra-light, power glider and helicopter hours are excluded from the cadet figures. |
| Hours on type | Experienced FO with A320 type rating: minimum 500 hrs on Airbus A320 (simulator excluded). Direct Entry Captain, A320 type rated: minimum 500 hrs actual flight time on A320 AND minimum 1,000 hrs actual flight time as PIC on Airbus A3xx full-FBW aeroplanes (PIC does not include PICUS). Direct Entry Captain Program (Airbus FBW): minimum 3,000 hrs actual flight time AND 100 landings on A320/A330/A340/A350/A380 combined. Direct Entry Captain, non-type-rated: minimum 1,000 hrs FT as PIC on certified MPA MET (jet/fan) over 50t MTOW in a public CAT environment (business/corporate excluded). Direct Entry Captain Program (turbojet): minimum 1,500 hrs FT on certified MPA MET (jet/fan) over 50t MTOW in public CAT, OR minimum 500 hrs FT as PIC on certified MPA MET (jet/fan) of 20t MTOW or more in any CAT environment including business/corporate. |
| Type rating | Required for the A320 type-rated streams — a current A320/IR rating (combined) must already be in a valid licence. For non-type-rated direct entry FOs and Captains Wizz Air provides the A320 type rating, but the commercial terms (cost, bond or repayment) are NOT published on the careers page. For the cadet/academy routes the headline figures ARE published: WAPA advanced training including the A320 type transition costs EUR 40,000, reduced to EUR 25,000 if employment terms are met; the She Can Fly Programme lists EUR 35,000 reduced to EUR 20,000 with a 4-year commitment. WAPA also publishes ab-initio training at EUR 61,460 with an initial payment of EUR 13,950 before enrolment, and a post-release monthly repayment schedule of EUR 520/month for months 1-30, EUR 897/month for months 31-60 and EUR 1,000/month for months 61-65 (final tranche waived if employed 5 years). She Can Fly publishes ab-initio training at EUR 61,468 with an initial payment of EUR 800 and a 6-year loyalty commitment. Which tranche the monthly schedule repays (ab-initio tuition, the advanced/type-rating element, or both combined) is NOT stated explicitly by Wizz Air — do not present any single monthly figure to a pilot as 'the type rating repayment'. |
| Right to work | Wizz Air Hungary (Legal Requirements block): unrestricted right to live and work in the EU, or in Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia or Ukraine. Wizz Air Malta's block lists the same countries but WITHOUT Montenegro. The FAQ further down the same page gives a shorter list again, omitting BOTH Armenia and Montenegro. Applicants whose only claim to eligibility is an Armenian or Montenegrin right to work must confirm with Wizz Air directly before applying — the airline's own page contradicts itself on exactly these two countries (see unverified). No visa sponsorship is offered — the FAQ confirms the company does not assist non-European passport holders with work permits for the Hungary or Malta AOCs. Wizz Air UK requires unrestricted right to live and work in the United Kingdom. |
| Medical | Valid EASA Class 1 Medical Certificate (Wizz Air Hungary AOC). Wizz Air UK requires a UK CAA Class 1. For cadet programmes the medical is not required at the recruitment event — only before enrolment on the course. |
| English | ICAO level 4, 5 or 6 English proficiency. Cadet programmes state 'fluent in English (both written and spoken)' instead of an ICAO level. |
| Age | No minimum or maximum age is published for direct entry First Officer or Captain positions. The cadet programmes (WAPA, She Can Fly, Pathway) publish a minimum of 18 years old. No upper age limit is published anywhere on the careers site. |
| Also | Requirements above are taken from the 'Legal Requirements' and 'Flight Experience Requirements' sections of Wizz Air's own Pilot Jobs page, re-verified 25 August 2026. Note the AOC split: this record covers the Wizz Air Hungary AOC, which requires an EASA licence and EASA Class 1 medical; Wizz Air UK requires UK CAA equivalents and Wizz Air Malta requires EASA. A pilot must pick one AOC at application and cannot switch later. Internal inconsistencies on Wizz Air's own page, confirmed on re-check: (a) the Wizz Air Hungary Legal Requirements block lists both Armenia and Montenegro among accepted right-to-work countries; (b) the Wizz Air Malta block omits Montenegro; (c) the FAQ lower down the same page omits BOTH Armenia and Montenegro. Two independent reads of the page also rendered the Montenegro entry differently, so this list should be treated as unstable and confirmed with the airline. No minimum or maximum age is published for direct entry pilots — do not assume one exists. Cost and repayment figures for the cadet routes are published in the academy context only and must never be applied to direct entry candidates. |
Which route your hours fit
Wizz Air publishes a separate minimum for each pilot category. Simulator hours never count, and for the cadet figures ultralight, powered glider and helicopter hours do not count either.
| Where you are now | Category | Published minimum |
|---|---|---|
| No licence | Wizz Air Pilot Academy, or She Can Fly for women | 18 or over, a high-school diploma with a good grasp of maths and physics, able to swim 50 m, and a passport from the programme’s own country list |
| New CPL or frozen ATPL with ME/IR | Cadet First Officer, type rated or not | 140 h of actual flight time from integrated training, or 200 h from modular; non-rated cadets also need UPRT, with a certificate and a 3-hour logbook entry |
| Multi-crew airline experience | Experienced First Officer, not type rated | 500 h on a certified multi-pilot, multi-engine aeroplane in commercial air transport, and a JOC or APS MCC (jet) course unless you have flown a jet or hold a jet type rating |
| A320 rated | Experienced First Officer, type rated | 500 h on the A320 and a current A320 and IR rating in your licence; no separate total-time figure is published |
| Captain on the Airbus | Direct Entry Captain, type rated | 3,500 factorised hours, 500 h on the A320 and 1,000 h in command on full fly-by-wire Airbuses (PICUS not counted) |
| Captain on other jets | Direct Entry Captain, non-type rated | 3,500 factorised hours and 1,000 h in command of multi-pilot jets above 50 t in public commercial air transport; business and corporate flying excluded |
| Senior First Officer close to command | Direct Entry Captain Programme (Airbus or turbojet) | Airbus: 3,000 h and 100 landings on the A320, A330, A340, A350 or A380. Turbojet: 1,500 h on multi-pilot jets above 50 t in public commercial air transport, or 500 h in command of jets of 20 t or more in any commercial air transport |
Factorised hours are Wizz Air’s way of weighing experience: the hours in each category are multiplied by a factor, and the total after multiplication must reach 3,500. The factor table is on Wizz Air’s applicant portal and is not public, so a Captain near the line cannot check eligibility in advance. Ask recruitment rather than ruling yourself out.
Right to work: who can apply, AOC by AOC
Wizz Air’s right-to-work rule is wider than most European airlines’ and changes with the AOC you pick. The Hungarian AOC accepts the unrestricted right to live and work in the EU or in Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia or Ukraine. The Maltese AOC lists the same countries without Montenegro, and the FAQ on the same page leaves out both Armenia and Montenegro, so a pilot relying on either should confirm with Wizz Air first. The FAQ also says Wizz Air does not help non-European passport holders with work permits. Wizz Air UK, at London Luton and London Gatwick, needs the right to live and work in the UK, a UK CAA licence and a UK CAA Class 1. Against the other short-haul recruiters on our jobs board:
| Airline | Right to work, as published | Hours | Status at last check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wizz Air | EU + named non-EU · no sponsorship | 140 h cadet FO · 500 h exp FO · 3,500 h Capt | Recruiting (25 August 2026) |
| Ryanair Group | EU · UK for the UK cadet route | 70–100 h PIC cadet · 700 h FO · 3,500 h Capt | Recruiting (25 August 2026) |
| easyJet | UK · EU for Marrakesh role | Capt only: 4,000 h · 500 h on A320 | Recruiting (25 August 2026) |
| Smartwings | EU passport (Capt) | 70 h PIC + UPRT · Capt 4,000 h | Recruiting (29 September 2026) |
| Enter Air | Not published | 200 h | Recruiting (29 September 2026) |
| Aegean Airlines | EU unrestricted | 70 h PIC | Recruiting (21 September 2026) |
The cadet programmes use a narrower list. The Academy accepts Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Hungary, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Moldova, and She Can Fly the same list without Armenia. An EU passport from outside those countries does not qualify you for either.
Entry routes
- Direct entry Captain — A320 type rated
- Direct entry Captain — non-type-rated
- Direct Entry Captain Program — Airbus FBW experience (upgrade programme)
- Direct Entry Captain Program — turbojet (upgrade programme, incl. experienced FOs)
- Direct entry First Officer — A320 type rated, experienced
- Direct entry First Officer — non-type-rated, experienced
- First Officer — A320 type rated, cadet level
- First Officer — non-type-rated, cadet level
- Cadet / ab-initio — Wizz Air Pilot Academy (WAPA), incl. WAPA Albania
- Cadet / ab-initio — She Can Fly Programme (female applicants)
- Cadet / ab-initio — Pathway Program (URBE Aero, Italy) — listing is live but STALE: see unverified
What the academy routes cost
| As published | Wizz Air Pilot Academy | She Can Fly (women only) |
|---|---|---|
| Ab-initio training | €61,460, with €13,950 paid before enrolment | €61,468, with €800 paid at the start |
| Advanced training, including the A320 transition | €40,000, reduced to €25,000 if the employment terms are met | €35,000, reduced to €20,000 with a four-year commitment |
| Repayment and commitment | After release as First Officer: €520 a month for months 1 to 30, €897 for months 31 to 60 and €1,000 for months 61 to 65, with the final tranche waived after five years’ employment | A six-year loyalty commitment |
| Recruitment fee | €130, covering the aptitude test | €85 |
| Height | 158 to 191 cm, with a cockpit-fit test outside 160 to 190 cm | 160 to 190 cm |
| 2026 course starts | 12 October 2026 | 25 May and 12 October 2026 |
Wizz Air does not say which part of the cost the monthly schedule repays, so ask for a written breakdown before you enrol. The 2026 academy courses start at Trener Flight Academy in Hungary, and the selection runs online aptitude and psychological tests, then a group exercise and an interview on the same day in Budapest, then financial and background checks. In October 2025 Wizz Air said it would train 1,200 new pilots by 2028, including 240 from the UK, and that it employed 2,800 pilots (PA Media). None of the academy figures applies to direct-entry pilots, whose type-rating terms are not published.
Selection process
- Submit the Pilot Application Form on careers.wizzair.com, selecting the AOC (Hungary, Malta or UK) — this cannot be changed later
- Upload CV, scanned passport, flight crew licence, Class 1 medical certificate and pilot logbook
- Complete the Pilot Scoring Form via a link sent by email (all mandatory fields must be filled for submission to succeed)
- Recruitment team reviews the profile against the minimum requirements and, if eligible, sets the candidate to 'invited' status
- Candidate is notified automatically when assessment slots open for their position category, then books a slot — registration for selection events is mandatory
- Attend the selection event: Budapest for Wizz Air Hungary bases (two-day events); Wizz Air Malta captain events in Rome are completed in one day
- Cadet / WAPA route only, as published by Wizz Air: (1) online pilot aptitude test (TestAir360), (2) online psychological assessment test, (3) group exercise in Budapest, (4) personal interview in Budapest on the same day, then financial and background checks. Each stage is subject to passing the previous one.
- Unsuccessful candidates are given a 'freezing period' set by the assessors, and must contact Wizz Air to reactivate the application once it expires
Bases and fleet
Bases: Budapest (BUD), Hungary · Warsaw (WAW), Poland · Katowice (KTW), Poland · Krakow (KRK), Poland · Gdansk (GDN), Poland · Wroclaw (WRO), Poland · Sofia (SOF), Bulgaria · Varna (VAR), Bulgaria · Bratislava (BTS), Slovakia · Vilnius (VNO), Lithuania · Belgrade (BEG), Serbia · Skopje (SKP), North Macedonia · Podgorica (TGD), Montenegro · Tuzla (TZL), Bosnia and Herzegovina · Larnaca (LCA), Cyprus · Yerevan (EVN), Armenia · Kutaisi (KUT), Georgia
Fleet: A320ceo · A321ceo · A320neo · A321neo · A321XLR
Fleet and bases: what decides where a new pilot flies
- An A321neo airline. 270 aircraft at 30 June 2026, 78% of them neos (Q1 F27 results). The 41 A321ceos began leaving in March 2026 and are due out by March 2029, and at 31 March 2026 firm orders stood at 250 A321neos and 4 A321XLRs.
- Engines still limit capacity. Pratt & Whitney GTF inspections had grounded 27 aircraft at 30 June 2026, down from 41 a year earlier, with all expected back by the end of 2027.
- Bases open and close. Wizz Air reported about 40 bases in 2026. Turin, announced in April, was the fortieth; Târgu Mureș reopened with one A320neo in March 2026; and a one-aircraft A321neo base in Pristina starts in November 2026. Vienna was closed by March 2026, and Wizz Air Abu Dhabi stopped flying on 1 September 2025.
- Bonuses at selected bases. The careers page offers retention bonuses of up to €25,000 for First Officers and Senior First Officers and €40,000 for Captains after three years, and sign-on bonuses of up to €5,000 and €10,000, at selected bases and with terms attached.
The careers page carries a table of bases and roster patterns; read it for the base you would accept before the assessment event, because base preference is asked about early.
How to prepare
Every Wizz Air aircraft is an A320-family Airbus, most of them A321neos, so the A320 bank is the technical preparation for every route, with particular care on the A321’s smaller tail-strike margin and the geared-turbofan neo. Wizz Air does not publish what happens at the experienced-pilot assessment event; for the academy it publishes an online aptitude test (TestAir360) and a psychological test before the Budapest day. Use the ATPL theory banks for the written and technical elements candidates describe, and complete every field of the Pilot Scoring Form: it will not submit otherwise.
For what candidates report about the assessment event, the simulator and the interview, with worked A320 technical answers, read our Wizz Air pilot interview guide. Low-hours pilots can compare other entry points on low-hour pilot jobs, and Captains the published minimums on direct entry Captain jobs. The Library covers the A320 flight control laws and the engines and FADEC. Check Wizz Air’s entry on the jobs board for the latest status.
What we could not confirm
- The year of the Wizz Air Hungary assessment event dates. The page prints '25-26 August', '3-4 September' and '23-24 September' with no year. They are almost certainly 2026 given the page was live on 25 August 2026, but the same page carries a stale '© 2024' footer and a stale February Wizz Air UK banner, so the dates cannot be independently confirmed as current.
- Whether Wizz Air Hungary is currently taking First Officers. The requirements are published and the Pilot Application Form is open to FOs, but the only dated WAH assessment events list Captain routes (TR DEC, NTR DEC, TR DEC Program, NTR DEC Program) as the open positions. FO applicants may be held in the pool — the airline's own FAQ says candidates are notified 'as soon as slots are available'. Treat FO recruitment for the Hungary AOC as pool rather than confirmed active.
- Type rating cost, bond or repayment terms for non-type-rated DIRECT ENTRY First Officers and Captains. Wizz Air publishes these terms only for the cadet/academy routes. Do not apply the WAPA EUR 40,000/25,000 figures to direct entry candidates — they are published in the academy context only.
- The detailed content of the experienced-pilot assessment day. Wizz Air publishes only that a selection event takes place and its location and duration. Descriptions circulating on third-party preparation sites (written test, group exercise, technical and HR interview, A320 full-flight simulator check, psychometric evaluation) are NOT published by Wizz Air and could not be confirmed on the airline's own domain. Wizz Air explicitly states it has no affiliation with any such preparation provider.
- Any maximum age limit. None is published for any route. Do not infer one.
- The factorized hours table used to assess Captain applications. It is hosted at onedoor.wizzair.com, which is not publicly accessible, so the actual multipliers per aircraft category could not be read.
- RESOLVED on re-check, previously recorded as irreconcilable: the two cadet recruitment fees are not a contradiction, they are two different programmes. The WAPA page publishes EUR 130 (covering the pilot aptitude test); the She Can Fly page publishes EUR 85. Both are current on their own pages. Quote the fee for the specific programme, never a blended figure.
- The Pathway Program (URBE Aero, Italy) listing is live on Wizz Air's job board but its content is HISTORICAL: the programme page still advertises course start dates of 23 September 2024 and 2 December 2024 and a careers event on 23 November 2024 at Hilton Roma Aeroporto. No 2026 intake date is published on Wizz Air's own page. Independent reporting suggests the URBE partnership itself has not been discontinued, but a pilot must not be told there is an upcoming Pathway intake — no current intake is evidenced on the airline's own site.
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 Wizz Air hiring First Officers? Applications are open to every category through the Pilot Application Form, but at the last check the dated assessment events for the Hungarian AOC listed only Captain routes, and Wizz Air UK showed no events. A First Officer who meets the minimums is reviewed, set to “invited” status and notified when slots open for that category, so expect to wait in the pool rather than book a date straight away.
How many hours do you need to fly for Wizz Air? 140 hours of actual flight time for a cadet First Officer from integrated training, or 200 from modular training; 500 hours on multi-pilot, multi-engine aeroplanes in commercial air transport for a non-rated experienced First Officer, or 500 on the A320 if rated; and 3,500 factorised hours for a Direct Entry Captain. Simulator hours never count.
What are factorised hours at Wizz Air? Wizz Air multiplies the hours you have flown in each category by a factor from its own table and checks the total against the 3,500-hour Captain minimum. The table is on its applicant portal and is not public, so the figure is not the same as 3,500 logbook hours; ask recruitment if you are close to the line.
How much does the Wizz Air Pilot Academy cost? Wizz Air publishes €61,460 for ab-initio training, with €13,950 paid before enrolment, and €40,000 for advanced training including the A320 transition, reduced to €25,000 if the employment terms are met. The balance is repaid monthly after you start as a First Officer, at €520, then €897, then €1,000 a month over 65 months, with the final tranche waived after five years. She Can Fly, for women, lists €61,468 with €800 up front.
Can non-EU pilots work for Wizz Air? Some can. The Hungarian AOC accepts the right to work in Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia or Ukraine as well as the EU; the Maltese AOC leaves out Montenegro, and the FAQ on the same page leaves out Armenia too, so confirm before you apply. Wizz Air does not help other nationalities with work permits.
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 →