Virgin Australia

Virgin Australia is Australia's second-largest airline, headquartered in Brisbane and flying a Boeing 737 fleet across the domestic trunk network between Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane alongside leisure routes and short-haul international services to New Zealand, Fiji, Bali and Vanuatu. It returned to the Australian Securities Exchange in June 2025 after five years under Bain Capital ownership, with Qatar Airways holding a strategic stake of roughly a quarter that underpins a long-haul codeshare reach the airline does not fly itself.

Flying for Virgin Australia

Virgin Australia recruits direct-entry Second Officers, First Officers and Command Pilots, requiring an Australian ATPL or CPL depending on the role, an Australian instrument rating with multi-engine and 2D and 3D approach endorsements, and Australian or New Zealand citizenship or Australian permanent residency at the point of applying. It has also run a Pilot Cadetship taking applicants from no experience to a 737 flight deck, with an assigned pilot mentor through the programme; intakes are periodic and applications sit closed between rounds, so the direct-entry route is the dependable one and the cadetship is worth watching for.

Selection runs 8 to 12 weeks from the close of advertising, with shortlisting notified within four to six weeks. After application screening comes a pre-recorded video interview answered against a timer, then an assessment day held at Aviation Australia in Brisbane that combines abilities testing, personality profiling, computer-based learning and examination, panel interviews and reference checks. The abilities battery and the timed video responses are both formats that punish unfamiliarity far more than they punish inexperience.