Pilot Hiring Index

What airlines are actually asking for, measured from every pilot vacancy published on bestpilotjobs. Minimum flight hours by role and region, type-rating requirements, licence authorities, aircraft demand, and per-operator hiring history. Nothing here is estimated — the index reports what employers stated in their own listings.

What minimum flight hours do airlines require?

Across 156 vacancies, the median stated minimum for a Captain is 4,000 hours total time and for a First Officer 1,500 hours. The spread between regions is wide: MENA publishes the highest Captain median at 5,000 hours, USA & Canada the lowest at 3,250. Medians are taken across listings, not across operators, so an airline advertising frequently carries more weight.

Captain medians from 75 listings, First Officer medians from 74 listings. Figures in hours of total time.

How many vacancies require a type rating?

47% of vacancies require a current type rating on the advertised aircraft at the point of application. The remaining 53% are open to non type-rated pilots, typically where the operator funds or bonds the rating. Based on 156 listings with a recorded rating requirement.

If you hold a rating on a widely operated type, the rated share of the market is open to you immediately. If you do not, the non type-rated share is where to concentrate — see the type rating guides for what each rating costs and how long it takes.

Which aircraft types are most in demand?

Ranked by number of vacancies published. A320/321 leads at 30% of every vacancy that named a type — demand concentrates in the large narrowbody families, where the biggest fleets and the highest crew turnover sit. The twenty most advertised types are listed individually; everything below that is grouped into Other so the shares account for the whole market rather than only the visible part.

Share is of the 156 vacancies that named an aircraft type. Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number and the Other row absorbs the rounding, so the column sums to exactly 100%.

Which licence authorities do airlines ask for?

Counted across all vacancies; a single listing may accept more than one authority, so the totals exceed the number of vacancies. If your licence is not on this list, the licence conversion guide covers the main routes between authorities.

Which operators are hiring, and what do they ask for?

One row per distinct requirement, not per operator: a carrier hiring on two aircraft, or hiring Captains and First Officers separately, appears once for each. The minimum shown is the figure that operator actually stated for that specific aircraft and role — never an average across unrelated positions. Where repeat listings for the same combination stated different minimums, the range is shown. Rows are grouped by operator, most active first, and each operator name links through to its profile and current vacancies.

154 distinct requirements across 97 operators — every one published on bestpilotjobs, none omitted. A dash in the minimum column means the listing stated no hour requirement.

Methodology

Frequently asked questions

Journalists, flight schools and career advisors are welcome to quote these figures with attribution to bestpilotjobs Pilot Hiring Index, 26 July 2026 and a link to this page. Need a cut of the data we do not publish here — by country, operator type or aircraft family? Get in touch.