This Week in Aviation Hiring — Nov 2, 2026

By Patrick, airline pilot · Airline Pilot Blueprint · Researched Nov 2, 2026

Who's hiring, what's moving, and what it means if you're training toward an airline seat — sourced and dated, because hiring changes fast.

The Big Picture

The first-officer door is wide open; the captain door is not. V1Prep's worldwide airline jobs board, updated today (Nov 2, 2026), tracks 121 airlines: 62 are recruiting now, 60 of them are taking First Officers, and only 33 are taking Captains. Zoom in on North America and the split sharpens — 25 airlines tracked, 18 recruiting, and all 18 are taking First Officer applications while just one is taking Captains. Read that the right way if you're training: the industry is hiring into the right seat and promoting from within. The bottleneck isn't finding an open FO application. It's arriving at 1,500 hours ready, because that's the seat the whole system is competing to fill.

Source: V1Prep, Airline Pilot Jobs 2026, updated Nov 2, 2026.

Who's Hiring

The majors: four recruiting first officers — and one big name sitting out

V1Prep's North America table (airline entries checked Oct 13–14, 2026; board updated Nov 2, 2026) lists American, Delta, United, and Alaska as recruiting First Officers. American hires at 1,500 hours with an unrestricted ATP; Delta asks 1,500 hours with 1,000 hours of fixed-wing turbine preferred; Alaska asks 1,500 hours plus 500 hours of fixed-wing turbine. The notable absence: Southwest is listed as not recruiting (checked Oct 15, 2026), and Spirit shows no pilot offers open. Pay anchor for the top of the ladder: United's own First Officer page states that in 2026 the starting hourly rate for all new-hire United First Officers is $125.52 per flight hour.

Sources: V1Prep North America table, Airline Pilot Jobs 2026 (checked Oct 13–15, 2026; updated Nov 2, 2026); United Airlines, First Officer (accessed Nov 2, 2026).

SkyWest's own page, checked today: the full R-ATP ladder and the pay scale

SkyWest's pilot jobs page — read this morning, Nov 2, 2026 — publishes four entry tiers: unrestricted ATP at 1,500 hours, and restricted ATP at 1,250, 1,000, or 750 hours depending on your degree or military path, each with its cross-country, night, instrument, and multi-engine sub-minimums spelled out. The published pay scale starts First Officers at $92.73 per flight hour in year one ($144.24 for year-one Captains), with a 75-hour monthly minimum guarantee after IOE, 21 domiciles, and a fleet of nearly 500 aircraft flying for United, Delta, American, and Alaska. SkyWest is also an Aviate-participating United Express carrier. If you're choosing between a Part 61 school and a degree program, that R-ATP ladder — 250 to 750 hours of difference — is the single biggest timeline lever on this page.

Source: SkyWest Airlines, Pilot Jobs (accessed Nov 2, 2026).

Piedmont is posting first officers at $99 an hour — with captain pay at 750 hours

Piedmont Airlines First Officer postings live this week (crawled Nov 1–2, 2026) start pay at $99.00 per hour, stepping to $104.50 in year two, $114.00 in year three, and $117.75 in year four and beyond — on a 75-hour minimum guarantee, based at Philadelphia, Charlotte, and Harrisburg. The posting's hook: once you log 750 flight hours at Piedmont and successfully bid to upgrade, you're paid at the Captain's hourly rate. Piedmont also notes the Embraer 175 joins its fleet in 2028. Republic Airways' current First Officer listing, meanwhile, is aimed at “captain-ready” pilots, asks applicants to meet ATP or R-ATP minimums within six months of the interview date, and advertises up to $60,000 in bonuses. And the clock item from last week is still ticking: Envoy's listings still advertise the 50% Pilot Supply Premium through December 2026 — as of today, that premium has about eight weeks left to run.

Sources: Piedmont Airlines First Officer postings via Vaia (crawled Nov 1, 2026); Republic Airways First Officer listing via AvWrk (accessed Nov 2, 2026); Envoy Air listing via SkyBound Jobs (accessed Nov 2, 2026). Confirm all terms on the airline's own careers page.

For Students

The FAA's examiner report is out — and the numbers explain your checkride wait

Brief #1 flagged the FAA's first Section 833 report on designated pilot examiners (DPEs) as due in November. It has now been published, covering fiscal year 2024, and it's the first official picture of the checkride bottleneck: DPEs conducted 124,229 practical tests in FY2024, plus 22,341 retests — an average retest rate of 18%, consistent with historical trends. There were 1,154 DPEs on the rolls, 1,011 of them active (88%), and the FAA designated 117 new examiners that year. Two findings matter most to students. First, the FAA states plainly that it has no method for determining actual wait times, because applicants schedule directly with examiners — the wait you experience is real, but nobody in Washington is measuring it. Second, roughly 10,000 practical tests a year are lost to avoidable cancellations — no-shows, last-minute cancellations, and applicants who weren't ready — which the FAA calculates is the equivalent of 67 additional examiners. Every unprepared booking doesn't just cost you a fee; it burns a slot someone else needed.

Source: FAA, Report to Congress: National Coordination and Oversight of Designated Pilot Examiners (FY2024; accessed Nov 2, 2026); the FAA's DPE information page lists planned publication November 2026 (page last updated Sep 16, 2026).

Scholarships: one deadline lands this Thursday, and a $12,000 window just opened

• Latino Professionals in Aerospace (LPA) — closes Thursday, Nov 5, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Pacific. Five Fall '26 scholarships are open through one portal — including a Professional Flight Degree scholarship and a United Aviate Academy scholarship — and you must be an active LPA member to apply. LPA has awarded $4.1 million since 2015. No late applications.
• EAA Ray Aviation Scholarship — chapter window opened yesterday, Nov 1, 2026. EAA chapters apply from Nov 1 through Jan 31, 2027 for full scholarships worth up to $12,000 (matching-scholarship chapter applications close Dec 31). Students aged 16–19 cannot apply directly — a chapter applies, then selects its scholar — which means the time to introduce yourself to your local chapter is now, while chapters are deciding.
• Still on the calendar from Brief #1: EAA Aviation Foundation applications close Dec 16, 2026, and the AOPA Foundation fall window closes Dec 31, 2026 (awards $250–$14,000).

Sources: LPA, Scholarships (accessed Nov 2, 2026); EAA, Ray Aviation Scholarship Fund (accessed Nov 2, 2026).

One Move To Make This Week

Beat the Thursday deadline. If you're an LPA member — or eligible to become one — the Fall '26 application closes Nov 5 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific, no exceptions for late filings. That's three days from this brief. Not in LPA's lane? If you're 16–19, use the same week to contact your nearest EAA chapter: their Ray Scholarship application window opened yesterday, and chapters pick their scholars. Either way, this is a week where one application or one phone call is worth more than another hour of scrolling job boards — the hiring numbers above say the seats will be there; the money to reach them has deadlines.