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Hiring requirements

Southwest Airlines pilot hiring requirements

AirlineUnited StatesNorth AmericaSWA / WN

Registered as Southwest Airlines Co..

Verified 15 August 2026

Southwest Airlines is a large US low-cost carrier operating an all-Boeing 737 fleet on a point-to-point domestic network. It hires first officers directly for experienced pilots and also runs the Destination 225 degrees cadet pathway program for building qualifying hours.

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

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Vacancies we can see at Southwest Airlines

Nothing from Southwest Airlines 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 Southwest Airlines 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
FAA ATPLsource
Total time
Not stated
PIC time
Not stated
Multi-engine
Not stated
Turbine
Not stated
On type
Not stated
Type rating
Not stated
Medical
Class 1source
ICAO English
Not stated
Age
Not stated
Right to work
Not stated
Also required
Preferred: 500 hours in a fixed-wing turbine aircraft, or completion of a Destination 225 pathway programme
Also required
Preferred: actively flying for two of the last five years

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

  • Dallas Love Field (DAL)
  • Houston Hobby (HOU)
  • Baltimore/Washington (BWI)
  • Denver (DEN)
  • Phoenix (PHX)

Fleet

  • Boeing 737-700
  • Boeing 737-800
  • Boeing 737 MAX 8

Worth knowing

Notes on this operator

  • ContextSouthwest states an ATP certificate and a first-class medical as requirements and lists flight experience as preferred rather than required. The figures here are from its own pilots page.

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.

  • licence.family

    USA DOT/FAA Airline Transport Pilot Certificate.

    careers.southwestair.com

  • medicalClass

    USA DOT/FAA First Class Medical Certificate and, if applicable, any necessary Special Issuance of a Medical Certificate (Authorization) or Statement of Demonstrated Ability (SODA)

    careers.southwestair.com

  • other

    Preferred: 500 hours in a fixed-wing turbine aircraft or successfully completed all aspects of a Destination 225 pathway program

    careers.southwestair.com

  • other

    Preferred: actively flying for two of the last five years

    careers.southwestair.com

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