I'm not sure I am qualified to give a definitive answer to this question (SkyFox99) but an educated guess would say experience. They need experience and hence the different pay grades. The other obvious answer is supply and demand. Many of the captains are seconded from THY. I have little doubt there will be upgrades according to experience. My understanding is this may be in the 3500-4000 hours bracket although I've never heard this officially. Clearly some of those upgrades will come for expatriate FOs. The vast majority of pilots are nationals and not an insignificant number ab-initios.
I cannot answer Bravo Alpha's question above re 'upgrades' to wide body in THY. I've heard it said it is possible from nationals but whether it is the case I could not say. Perhaps this is something that might evolve of course. The two airlines are very tightly linked with much of the resources coming from the mothership. ACMIs are being employed to help cover the workload. One would imagine as they get pilot numbers up that they'd rely less upon the former. To add of course some of those pilots have and likely will continue to come from the ACMIs themselves.
I'd perhaps add caution about being motivated to move to LH before you're even through the door onto SH. This airline is quite choosey about whom they employ. I've said it before and I'll say it again. They put a very strong emphasis on CRM and IMO this makes for a very happy work environment. I'm not wishing to preach of course. I'm merely trying to help those whom wish to join get through the door)).
Guys. If you wish to apply then I’d do so direct ie. No agent. I don’t know of any (I’m sure there are) whom were successful with any agent. Also agents may only accept EASA licenses. This I can assure you is not the case in reality. Some on here can gen you up when invited. I can add that I believe the company prefers/wants direct applications (from a management pilot).
Last edited by Scot320; 9th October 2025 at 10:37.