Emirates will hold a pilot recruitment roadshow in Manila on 28 and 29 October 2026, its first in the Philippines, as the Dubai-based airline continues an international hiring campaign aimed at experienced airline pilots. Three sessions are listed on the airline's pilot careers website: at 10AM and 1PM on 28 October and at 10AM on 29 October, all with the Philippine recruitment agency Industrial Personnel and Management Services, Inc. (IPAMS)1. ABS-CBN News reported that the airline announced the event on Thursday 8 October and that it is seeking experienced commercial aviators for roles as first officers and direct entry captains, and for its Accelerated Command Programme2.

In the airline's statement carried by Philippine media, Khalid Al Zarooni, Emirates' country manager for the Philippines, said: "We look forward to welcoming more pilots from the Philippines onboard our airline as we ramp up our operations globally."3 According to the same statement, attendees can find out about the airline's new Narrowbody to Widebody Direct Entry Captain Campaign, its recruitment process, training programmes, expected career trajectory and benefits, and speak to pilots currently flying with Emirates3. Registration is through an online form linked from the statement and from the careers site13.

Why Manila, and why now

The statement says Emirates is "stepping up its recruitment efforts in the Philippines to meet the strong surge in customer demand."3 InsiderPH, reporting the announcement, noted that the airline has received 27 Airbus A350 aircraft, with another 47 on order, alongside orders for 270 Boeing 777X aircraft4. Emirates launched services to Manila in 1990, and in January it announced four additional weekly flights between Dubai and Manila from 2 April, taking its Philippine schedule, which also includes Cebu and Clark, from 28 to 32 weekly services5. Its local partner describes itself as "a multi-awarded, DMW-licensed Philippine recruitment agency", referring to the Department of Migrant Workers, and says it applies a policy of "No Placement Fees, No Processing Fees, No Salary Deductions"6.

Manila is part of a wider campaign. When Gulf News described the roadshow series on 1 August, it said the tour would begin in Madrid on 6 and 7 August and travel across 14 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas until February; the Philippines was not among the countries it named7. The careers site listed sessions in Rome on 11 October and Budapest from 12 to 13 October, and lists Athens on 15 and 16 October, Mexico City and Sao Paulo in November, Johannesburg and Cape Town in early December, five UK locations in January, and Brussels and Amsterdam in February1.

Who the roadshow is for

The sessions are not an entry route for student or low-hours pilots. Emirates' published minimums for first officers are 2,000 hours total flying time, a valid ICAO ATPL with an unrestricted Class 1 medical, current Boeing or Airbus fly-by-wire experience, at least 150 hours on type in the past 12 months and English language proficiency at ELP 4 or higher8. Direct entry captains need 7,000 hours or more, pilot in command experience on Airbus aircraft and ELP 5 or higher9. The Accelerated Command programme, which the airline describes as offering "experienced narrow-body captains a fast-track to command on our widebody fleet", starts from 5,000 hours10. The only route on the careers site that starts from zero hours is the National Cadet Pilot Programme1, which Gulf News describes as a fully sponsored programme for UAE nationals7.

According to the careers site's frequently asked questions, selection is held in two stages. The first is remote and consists of "a short HireVue video interview, psychometrics testing, abstract reasoning testing, and a live digital panel interview."1 The second is held in Dubai over two days and covers simulator assessments, Advanced Compass and the Emirates medical assessment1. Candidates invited to the assessment must provide complete certified logbook records, and the airline states that it will not pay the remainder of any bond a pilot still has with a current airline1. More background on what such assessments involve is in our guide to assessments for experienced pilots.

Training, pay and the bond

New joiners train in house in Dubai, including at the Emirates Crew Training Centre, which the roadshow statement describes as a US$135 million purpose-built facility housing six full flight simulator bays for the airline's A350 and 777X aircraft3. When the centre opened in September 2025, Emirates said it had started training pilots with two A350 full flight simulators, and that four more, including Boeing 777X simulators, were scheduled to arrive "in the next couple of years"11. In the UAE, the General Civil Aviation Authority is the body that issues and oversees aviation personnel licences and the associated "ratings, validations, and authorizations"12.

The careers site gives a monthly take-home figure for first officers of AED 32,100 (USD 8,750), based on basic pay and 85 hours of flying pay, and an annual total package of AED 900,000 that is calculated for an employee with a spouse and two eligible children and includes housing, schooling and other benefits8. On the same basis, the site gives AED 1,185,000 for direct entry captains, and an enhanced first officer package of AED 935,000 for applicants with at least 4,000 hours on jets above 20 tonnes and ELP 589. The same site says salaries are reviewed every year but that any increment "is not contractual", and that the training bond for first officers and captains is USD 42,000, applying to flight crew on the passenger fleet for 42 months1. Its stated criteria for a command upgrade include a minimum of 6,000 hours total time, 2,000 hours in an operating seat on the Emirates type concerned and a minimum age of 30 to begin the command course1.

What this means for pilots

For experienced first officers and captains in the Philippines, the sessions are a chance to meet the recruitment team and current Emirates pilots in Manila3. Attending a roadshow is not the same as being selected: candidates still face the two-stage process, the medical and the logbook checks, and Emirates says fleet allocation "is based solely on our operational requirements"1. For students and low-hours pilots, the published thresholds mainly show how much experience these direct entry routes expect. The wider backdrop is industry demand: Boeing's 2026 Pilot and Technician Outlook projects a need for about 674,000 new pilots worldwide through 2045, including 67,000 in the Middle East13. Current openings elsewhere are collected on our pilot jobs page.