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Hiring requirements

Emirates pilot hiring requirements

AirlineUnited Arab EmiratesMiddle EastUAE / EK

Verified 15 August 2026

Emirates is the Dubai based flag carrier of the United Arab Emirates and one of the largest widebody operators in the world, flying long haul Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 aircraft. It hires First Officers directly from other airlines and military backgrounds rather than running cadet entry as its main pipeline, and it recovers part of its type rating training cost through a bond on new hires.

Open the official careers page

Applications are made on Emirates's own site. SkyStudy never collects an application, a document or a fee.

  • Check carefullyNew first officers and captains sign a training bond of USD 42,000 covering 42 months, per Emirates' own careers page.

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Vacancies we can see at Emirates

Nothing from Emirates is on our board today. That means we are not currently reading an open flight-deck advert from their own careers system, not that they are not hiring: open the official careers page above, which is the only complete list. See what is open at other operators.

What the operator asks for

Minimum requirements on record

Only what Emirates states publicly. "Not stated" means the operator does not publish that figure, not that there is no requirement, and never that the requirement is zero.

Licence
Not stated
Total time
2,000 hsource
PIC time
Not stated
Multi-engine
Not stated
Turbine
Not stated
On type
Not stated
Type rating
Type rating provided under a bond (42 months, USD 42,000)source
Medical
Not stated
ICAO English
Not stated
Age
Not stated
Right to work
Not stated
Also required
Minimum age to commence the command course is 30
Also required
Command upgrade: minimum 6,000 hours total time and 2,000 hours actual time in an operating seat

Any age, nationality, residency, height or vision criterion above is the operator's own stated criterion, quoted from its own page. Some such criteria are lawful where an operator recruits and unlawful elsewhere, including in the EU. SkyStudy reports them factually and does not adopt them as requirements of its own.

Every published profile is checked by hand against the operator's own careers page, and is flagged for a recheck 180 days after that check. Requirements change without notice, so confirm every figure on the operator's own careers page before you apply.

Pay and contract

Contract type: Not stated. Do not assume direct employment; some operators contract through an agency or on a self-employed basis, which changes tax, sick pay and pension entirely.

Pay: Not stated on the operator's own page.

For what pilots earn by region and seat, with its own sources and dates, see the pilot salary guide. Those are market ranges, not an offer from this operator.

Selection process

Not stated. This operator does not publish its selection stages, so nothing is listed here. A recruitment site claiming to know the stages is guessing, and so would we be.

Bases

  • Dubai (DXB)

Fleet

  • Airbus A380
  • Boeing 777

Worth knowing

Notes on this operator

  • ContextThe 2,000-hour figure is the first officer minimum on Emirates' own pilot careers page. The same page states a command upgrade needs 6,000 hours total and 2,000 hours in an operating seat.

Provenance

Where each figure came from

Each entry is the sentence the value was read from, on the operator's own site. If a figure here is out of date, the quote is what to check it against.

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