The Emirates pilot assessment, stage by stage

Emirates selects in 2 stages. Stage one is remote and removes most candidates: a HireVue video interview, reasoning and personality tests, and a live panel on Teams. Stage two is 2 days in Dubai: the Advanced COMPASS aptitude tests, a simulator assessment and the medical. Every figure below is marked as published by Emirates, reported by candidates, or not published at all, with the day it was read. Where sources disagree, both versions are given.

If your date is inside 3 weeks, start here

Stage one invited: the reasoning tests are the gate. Sit the abstract and logical sitting daily until 30 seconds an item feels slow, then rehearse HireVue answers on the 90 second clock, then the 8 competency themes for the panel. Dubai invited: the simulator brief is the gate. Learn the profile, write the brief, say it aloud against a clock, then run the 7 section mock twice, then the logbook stamp, the certificates and the documents list in the Emirates pack. Airbus applicants report an A380 simulator; Boeing applicants a Boeing type.

The map, with the clocks

Emirates describes the process in one sentence: the selection is held in two stages, stage one held remotely and consisting of a short HireVue video interview, psychometrics testing, abstract reasoning testing and a live digital panel interview; stage two held in Dubai over a two-day period and consisting of simulator assessments, Advanced Compass and the Emirates medical assessment. What that sentence does not give you is the order inside each stage, the clocks, or the waits between them. This is the same map with those filled in from 2025 and 2026 candidate reports.

1. Application and hold. Applications sit on hold for weeks to months with a weekly automated email saying the application is on hold and prioritised by operational requirements. One Boeing first officer with over 2,000 hours applied in September 2025 and had no movement by March 2026; another was placed on hold the day after applying in July 2026. Candidates on hold report no link to their own profile; the automated email cites operational requirements, which reads as fleet demand.
2. HireVue video interview. 3 questions, about 30 seconds to prepare and 90 seconds to answer each, no retakes. Some prep sites describe up to 5 questions with a 3 minute ceiling; the 90 second figure is what candidates report. Replies range from 2 days to more than a year. One candidate was rejected the day after recording; another received the rejection 4 months later. 2 posters describe HireVue as an English language check, 1 relaying a roadshow presenter in November 2025; the other, in December 2025, says all 3 of their questions were tell me about a time, none technical.
3. Reasoning and personality tests, online. The abstract reasoning test runs as 8 sets of 4 questions with 2 minutes per set, after a 10 item practice. 3 separate personality questionnaires follow, in forced choice formats, and candidates receive a PDF profile by email afterwards. Emirates does not name the test vendor. 1 candidate in September 2026 mentions a Saville online stage, and prep sites name Saville too. The real test is described by 1 candidate as harder than any practice version.
4. Live panel on Microsoft Teams. 2 interviewers, usually a pilot selection specialist and a talent acquisition partner, 25 to 60 minutes, business attire. Competency questions in the tell me about a time format, led by the HR side. Most 2026 reports say there were no technical questions at all; one prep site lists technical topics, and no 2026 candidate confirms them. Results came back in 2 hours for one candidate, within a week for the others.
5. Dubai, day 1. The Advanced COMPASS aptitude tests, about 2.5 to 3 hours, and the simulator assessment. Assessments run on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and after the panel you pick your own date from a calendar link.
6. Dubai, day 2. The medical and the document check. Emirates says to allow a day of travel on either side.
7. Final validation. The presentation on the day says results in 2 to 6 weeks. January 2026 candidates waited about 3 weeks. The February to July 2026 cohorts were still waiting 4 to 7 months later, with a reference form arriving about 9 weeks after Dubai. Outcomes are mixed: 1 February 2025 group split about evenly between offers and rejections, another group of 10 had 5 rejections so far, and 2 candidates posting in October 2025 describe try again in 12 months emails after the assessment, 1 of them after passing the sim and the medical. In 1 group’s account, 2025 offers came with joining dates 3 to 6 months after the assessment. Plan for months, and do not resign anything on the strength of a good day in Dubai.

Who can apply, in Emirates’ own figures

The postings split by what you currently fly, not by whether you hold the Emirates type. Read the stream that matches your seat and aircraft today.

First officer

• Boeing stream, for the 777: a minimum of 2,000 hours total flying time on jets of 20 tonnes or more, excluding P3, rotary and single or multi engine piston time; a minimum of 1,000 hours on Boeing type; currently flying Boeing type; a minimum of 150 hours within the past 12 months on type; a valid ICAO ATPL with a matching authority Class 1 medical; ICAO English level 4 or above.
• Airbus stream, for the A380 and A350: a minimum of 2,000 hours total flying time on jets of 50 tonnes or more; a minimum of 1,000 hours on Airbus fly by wire; currently flying Airbus fly by wire; the same 150 hour recency, licence, medical and English level 4 requirements.
• Enhanced package: 4,000 hours total flying time on jets of 20 tonnes or more, of which 2,000 hours on jets of 50 tonnes or more, and ICAO English level 5 or above. That package is published at AED 935,000 a year in pay and benefits against AED 900,000 for the standard first officer package, with monthly take home cash of AED 34,600 against AED 32,100 on 85 hours of flying pay.
• Frozen ATPL holders, meaning CPL plus completed ATPL theory, can be invited for assessment on the provision that they agree to Emirates’ frozen ATPL terms and conditions. Candidates under 2,000 hours report being assessed and placed in the pool on condition of meeting the hours before joining, and being told to unfreeze the ATPL before contract.
• Candidates describe a non type rated first officer route that has been paused. 1 poster reported on 6 September 2025 that candidates waiting after HireVue had received an email saying the Non-Type Rated programme was currently unavailable due to current business requirements, with type rated positions still open; posters in October 2025 and March 2026 describe it as paused, and 1 attendee, posting in March 2026, reports presenters at a summer roadshow saying it was held off because of aircraft deliveries, for 6 months to a year. The first officer posting read on 23 September 2026 requires current flying on Boeing type or Airbus fly by wire and offers no non type rated route.

Direct entry captain

• A minimum of 7,000 hours total flying time in multi crew, multi engine aircraft, and only time in the operating seat of a turboprop or turbojet counts; simulator time is excluded. A minimum of 150 hours in the past 12 months on Airbus fly by wire as a captain. A valid ICAO ATPL with a matching Class 1 medical. ICAO English level 5 or above.
• A380: a minimum of 3,000 hours PIC on Airbus fly by wire wide body (A330, A340, A350 or A380), and currently flying one as captain. A350: a minimum of 3,000 hours PIC on any Airbus fly by wire including the A320 family, currently flying Airbus fly by wire as captain. Airbus fly by wire excludes the A220.
• The autumn 2026 roadshow agenda lists a new narrowbody to widebody direct entry captain campaign. No posting for it existed on the Emirates jobs board on 14 September 2026, and none was linked from the pilots page on 23 September. The A350 posting already accepts 3,000 hours PIC on the A320 family; what the roadshow campaign adds beyond that is not yet published, and the roadshow is where it will be said first.

Accelerated command

• Join as an Airbus first officer on an enhanced package with an accelerated command upgrade: operate the right hand seat for a minimum of 700 stick hours and complete 2 evidence based training recurrent modules. To apply: a minimum of 5,000 hours total flying time, excluding P3, rotary and piston; a minimum of 2,000 hours command time on Boeing or Airbus fly by wire types; a minimum of 1,000 hours command time on Airbus fly by wire; an Airbus fly by wire type flown within the past 3 years; 150 hours in the past 12 months; ICAO English level 5 or above.
• The pilots page shows a progression timeline to captain: first officer 3.5 years on Airbus and 4 years on Boeing, accelerated command 1.5 years on Airbus and 2.5 years on Boeing; in flying time, first officer 2,000 hours and accelerated command 700 hours. 2 posters in October 2025 report accelerated command closed on the Boeing fleet, 1 citing a roadshow explanation of Boeing delivery delays. In January 2026 1 poster said most accelerated command joiners had upgraded or were in the process; 2 others say some end up in the right seat, 1 naming accelerated command and direct entry pilots who failed the upgrade course.

Two things candidates get wrong on eligibility. The 50 tonne line excludes regional jets such as the CRJ and the E175, and the A220 is excluded by name; the A320 family clears it, since an A320 weighs about 77 tonnes at take off. What the Airbus stream does require is 1,000 hours on Airbus fly by wire and currency on it. And the recency rule is 150 hours on type in the past 12 months, which catches pilots who have been on the ground for a year.

Stage one, remote, in detail

The documents, before anything else

Emirates says you must provide complete certified logbook records when you are invited for the assessment: either a stamp in your logbook from your fleet manager or chief pilot verifying your hours flown, or a stamped original letter from the fleet department of your airline or authority. The online application itself asks for the CV, passport, the ATPL with the type rating for the aircraft you currently fly, and a Class 1 medical certificate with no limitations except visual correction. Get the logbook stamp now. It is the one document that depends on another person’s availability, and it is checked in Dubai. The Emirates pack covers how to present hours, types and the things you would rather not declare.

HireVue

The questions are not technical. Reported examples: building relationships with colleagues from many nationalities, the challenges at your current airline, why you want to live in Dubai, how you would motivate a colleague, what your family thinks about moving. 30 seconds of preparation is enough for one structure, not for a speech. Decide the structure before you press start, then fit the question to it. The Emirates pack trains the format with 3 worked answers.

Reasoning and personality

30 seconds an item after the practice set. The 3 personality questionnaires use forced choice formats: which statement describes you better, and would you rather. 3 questionnaires in a row usually means consistency is being measured; Emirates does not say. Answer as you actually behave under pressure, and answer the same way each time. The pack’s stage one sitting runs abstract reasoning at 20 items in 18 minutes and logical reasoning at 12 in 12, on the server, so the pace is in your hands before the real one.

The Teams panel

2 interviewers. Candidates describe an HR led conversation in the competency format: why Emirates, why above other airlines, the most stressful situation you have handled, a time you challenged or disagreed with a captain, leadership and motivating a colleague, how your life will change in Dubai and what your family thinks, a difficult colleague, why you are leaving your current employer. Reported lengths run from 25 minutes to an hour; one candidate had 15 minutes of HR questions in a 30 minute call. The question about your family is not small talk. Emirates invites spouses to roadshows and flies your legal spouse to the assessment. A vague answer about your partner’s plans reads as a relocation risk. The Emirates pack gives competency answers on 4 themes, one structure.

Stage two, Dubai, in detail

Getting there

Emirates provides you and your legal spouse with a return economy class ticket, upgradable to business class subject to availability, to Dubai from your nearest destination in the Emirates network. One April 2026 candidate received ticket and hotel bookings by email; a prep site says Emirates pays the hotel; the Emirates FAQ only mentions the ticket. Budget for the hotel and be pleased if it is covered.

Advanced COMPASS

Emirates names Advanced Compass and nothing more. Candidates and prep sites describe 6 sub tests over about 2.5 to 3 hours: applied mathematics against the clock (multiplication, division, speed, distance and time), short term memory of altitudes, headings, speeds and frequencies, spatial awareness, a multitasking task with keyboard entry and alert cancelling, verbal reasoning in a true, false or cannot say format, and a 5 minute flight control task with joystick and pedals tracking airspeed, heading, altitude and slip. One candidate warned in January 2025 that the COMPASS format had changed and no longer matched the older practice material. The pack’s Dubai mock runs 7 sections on separate clocks: maths 24 items in 18 minutes, verbal 10 in 22, professional knowledge 16 in 10, spatial 16 in 10, English 16 in 10, logical 12 in 12, judgement 12 in 10. It does not train the joystick task; the lab’s tracking and multitasking drills are the nearest thing on this site, and a session on real hardware is worth arranging if the flight control task worries you.

Is there a written technical exam?

Emirates does not publish one for direct entry pilots. Gouge from 2011 described 120 ATPL questions on the day. No 2025 or 2026 candidate report mentions a written paper; the technical questions candidates describe arrive in conversation, such as the 777 engine type, contaminated runway definitions and QNH arithmetic. Prepare the ATPL syllabus anyway. The Emirates pack holds 500 worked questions, and the mock runs a professional knowledge section at 16 items in 10 minutes. That pace is ours, chosen so recall is fast enough to survive a question asked across a table, and it is not a published Emirates figure.

The simulator

A briefing pack is sent before you arrive. The profile begins with a take off to an assigned altitude and heading, and approach plates are provided. Candidates describe a visual circuit briefed as instructed, an ILS, a hold, an engine failure, and a go around; two prep sites add a non precision approach. You fly as a crew, paired with another candidate or with a training captain; reports differ on which. The aircraft depends on your stream. Airbus applicants report being booked into an A380 simulator in Dubai and, from late 2025, into simulators at London Gatwick and Amsterdam; Boeing applicants report a Boeing type. One 2025 candidate’s summary of what was being scored: fly precisely, but communicate constantly. Raw data flying is expected to be adequate; what separates candidates is the brief, the callouts, the plan for the failure and the go around decision, spoken out loud before they are needed. The Emirates pack gives the briefing structure and the profile leg by leg.

The medical and the documents

Day 2 is the medical: ECG, chest X ray, hearing, vision, blood and urine, followed by the document check against your logbook and licence. A GCAA medical certificate is issued afterwards, and minor findings on the day were rectified afterwards for one candidate. Emirates explains the HIV, hepatitis B and TB tests as a mandatory government formality to secure a residence visa, and says that if you fail the pre employment medical, being told the reason is at the discretion of the company. The Emirates pack lists what to bring.

After Dubai: the pool, the wait, and reapplying

Boeing first officers assessed from mid 2025 onward report being placed in a hold pool: one assessed in October 2025 was told in November of a 6 month hold; by July 2026 several reported emails describing a pool wait of 1 to 1.5 years with the assessment valid for 1 year. One January 2026 candidate joined in July 2026. A low hours candidate was quoted class dates about 18 months out. In the same weeks one poster described the pool as empty and Emirates as needing people; both are candidate reports and both are given here. Emirates has not said what happens when the pool wait outlasts the 12 month validity. The long waits are reported by Boeing first officers; Airbus stream candidates have not reported comparable waits, which is not proof there are none. Plan your current job as if nothing has happened.

On reapplying after an unsuccessful assessment, Emirates says only that if you are eligible it will email you the timeframes and relevant details. One candidate reported an April 2026 email stating 24 months. If you accept a scheduled assessment and decline it with less than a week’s notice, Emirates says your application may be closed, subject to specific circumstances; to be considered at a later date, you email pilot recruitment. If your logbook stamp, your recency or your sim currency is not right, defer with more than a week’s notice; 1 candidate was quoted 24 months before reapplying after a fail.

The terms, because the panel will ask whether you have read them

• The training bond for first officers and captains is USD 42,000, applying to flight crew on the passenger fleet for 42 months. If you have a bond with your current airline, Emirates will not pay the remainder.
• The probation period is 6 months from your date of joining.
• Conversion runs 40 to 55 days on the 777 and 45 to 55 days on the A380: ground school, the full flight simulator, then line flying under supervision.
• First officer: AED 900,000 a year in pay and benefits (USD 245,000), annual take home cash AED 385,000, monthly take home cash AED 32,100 on basic plus 85 hours of flying pay, and 42 calendar days of leave a year.
• Accelerated command: AED 970,000 a year in pay and benefits, monthly take home cash AED 37,100.
• Fleet allocation is based solely on operational requirements, all pilots are based in Dubai, and there is no commuting option for flight crew. Both come up in the panel as a test of whether you have read the FAQ.

The roadshows, autumn 2026 to spring 2027

Emirates lists pilot roadshows with registration links. On 23 September 2026 the list ran: Manchester 23 and 24 September; Milan 8 and 9 October; Rome 10 and 11 October; Budapest 12 and 13 October; Athens 15 and 16 October; Manila 28 and 29 October; Mexico City 9 and 10 November; Sao Paulo 13 and 14 November; Johannesburg 1 and 2 December; Cape Town 4 and 5 December; London Stansted 8 January, Luton 9 January, Gatwick 10 January and Heathrow 11 January; Manchester 13 and 14 January; Brussels 23 and 24 February; Amsterdam 25 and 26 February. The Dublin and London Gatwick sessions of September have passed and are no longer listed. The sessions are listed as pilot info sessions, with an agenda covering the Emirates pilot selection process, rostering and annual leave, and the new narrowbody to widebody direct entry captain campaign. Nobody is graded at a roadshow. It is where the recruitment team answers the questions this page cannot, and where a narrowbody captain hears about a campaign that has no posting yet. Posters relayed the reasons for the non type rated pause and the Boeing accelerated command pause, and the description of HireVue as an English check, from roadshow presenters. None of these appears on the pilots page or the postings read on 23 September 2026.

What changed, 2011 to 2026

Older gouge describes a 4 day Dubai assessment with a written ATPL paper, a group exercise, an on site panel and an English test. In 2025 and 2026 candidates describe 2 days, no written paper, no group exercise, and the panel moved online to Teams before Dubai, with HireVue and the abstract reasoning test added in front of it. The COMPASS format changed in early 2025, and simulator slots for Airbus applicants opened in the UK in late 2025. Several prep sites still sell the 3 or 4 day version. Group exercises appear in the older gouge and on those sites; no 2025 or 2026 candidate report mentions one.

Where the sources disagree

• HireVue: 3 questions at 90 seconds (candidates, 2025 and 2026) against up to 5 questions at 3 minutes (2 prep sites).
• The Teams panel: no technical questions (candidate reports, February 2026) against a technical mix (1 prep site).
• Simulator pairing: another candidate, or a training captain.
• Hotel in Dubai: Emirates FAQ names the ticket only; 1 candidate received a hotel booking; 1 prep site says the hotel is paid.
• Results after Dubai: 2 to 6 weeks as stated on the day, 3 weeks in January 2026, 4 to 7 months for the February to July 2026 cohorts.
• Reapplying: 24 months in 1 candidate’s email; 6 to 12 months on 1 coaching site; no figure published by Emirates.

Where 2 versions exist, prepare for the harder one.

Checked against Emirates’ published pages on 23 September 2026. Candidate reports are from 2025 and 2026 unless a year is given; the main forum thread was read to its post of 13 September 2026. Nothing here is affiliated with or endorsed by Emirates.