TAP Air Portugal Pilot Interview & Assessment Prep
A sourced, founder-reviewed walkthrough of TAP Air Portugal's pilot selection — direct-entry A320 First Officer hiring and the FTEJerez graduate pathway — separating airline-official facts from candidate-reported gouge.
How TAP hires pilots (the big picture)
TAP recruits direct-entry First Officers in waves rather than continuously, and runs a separate preferred-graduate pipeline. Read this first to know which door applies to you.
- ✈TAP recruits direct-entry First Officers for the Lisbon-based A320-family fleet; campaigns open periodically rather than year-round.
- ✈Spontaneous/unsolicited First Officer applications are not accepted — TAP posts an announcement on its recruitment portal (recrutamento.tap.pt) when a campaign opens.
- ✈The recommended move is to register on the TAP recruitment portal and subscribe to alerts so you are notified when a pilot campaign goes live.
- ✈A second route exists for ab-initio cadets: under a 2019 agreement, top-performing FTEJerez (Flight Training Europe, Jerez, Spain) graduates can be invited to apply for First Officer and assessed in Lisbon.candidate-reported
- ✈TAP's mainline short/medium-haul fleet is Airbus A320-family (A319/A320/A321, including neo); long-haul is the Airbus A330neo/A330-900 — selection and type rating are A320-family for FO entry.
Eligibility & requirements
These are the gating requirements most consistently cited for TAP A320 First Officer entry. Always confirm exact figures against the live job advert when a campaign opens.
- ✈EASA ATPL(A), or a frozen ATPL (CPL with ATPL theory completed) — confirm which against the specific advert.
- ✈Valid EASA Class 1 medical certificate; candidates report TAP's medical standard is applied strictly.
- ✈ICAO English language proficiency Level 4 or higher.
- ✈Fluency in both English and Portuguese (written and spoken) is required for mainline FO roles.candidate-reported
- ✈Unrestricted right to live and work in the EU.candidate-reported
- ✈A320 type rating has been listed as mandatory on some direct-entry adverts and as trainable on others — check the exact campaign, as TAP runs both type-rated and non-type-rated intakes.candidate-reported
- ✈MCC (Multi-Crew Cooperation) course completion and a minimum of secondary education (12th grade) are commonly listed.candidate-reported
Practise a live TAP Air Portugal interview with AI
A realistic TAP Air Portugal board — grounded in the real process above. It asks one question at a time, gives you assessor-style feedback, and a final evaluation. Subscriber feature.
Which route are you applying through?
Your transcript and scorecard are saved — you can come back to them.
Get the full TAP Air Portugal prep pack — free
The A380 sim breakdown, every reported competency question, the cut-e/Aon test guide and the Speedbird cadet path — plus new verified gouge as it drops. Sent by Renzo, a real ex-A320 First Officer.
Free forever. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Selection process, stage by stage
Reconstructed from candidate debriefs (PPRuNe) and prep-vendor summaries. Order and exact content vary by campaign; treat as a reported sequence, not an official syllabus.
- ✈Stage 1: English written test plus an interview conducted in English to screen language and aptitude.candidate-reported
- ✈Stage 2: Psychometric / aptitude testing, including the WOMBAT situational-awareness and capacity test.candidate-reported
- ✈Stage 3: Group exercise / group interview assessing teamwork, communication and CRM behaviours.candidate-reported
- ✈Stage 4: Individual interview (HR / competency-based).candidate-reported
- ✈Stage 5: Simulator assessment.candidate-reported
- ✈Stage 6: Medical examination (reported to be stricter than baseline Part-MED expectations).candidate-reported
- ✈Final stage: Panel interview reported to include the Director of Flight Operations, Human Resources and a psychologist.candidate-reported
The tests & the simulator profile
What to actually prepare for — the named test, the psychometric domains, and how the sim is reported to run for type-rated vs non-type-rated candidates.
- ✈WOMBAT: a culture- and context-independent situational-awareness / multi-tasking test; pilots typically outscore non-pilots and scores correlate with simulated ATC and situational-awareness performance.
- ✈Aptitude battery covers reasoning (spatial, pattern, number series), maths/word problems, aviation English and an ATPL-knowledge refresher.candidate-reported
- ✈Personality assessment is reported to map to the Big Five domains (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism).candidate-reported
- ✈Simulator: type-rated candidates report being given engine failures and computer/system failures including a landing in Airbus DIRECT LAW.candidate-reported
- ✈For non-type-rated candidates the sim is a potential/trainability check (handling, instrument scan, learning curve) rather than a type-perfect check ride.candidate-reported
- ✈Prep-vendor course outlines list A320-specific knowledge tests as part of TAP-targeted preparation — useful signal that A320 systems knowledge helps.candidate-reported
Interview themes
TAP runs language, HR/competency and final-panel interviews. Specific verbatim questions are not publicly verifiable, so these are themes rather than a question bank.
- ✈English-language interview early in the process — be fluent and comfortable discussing your training and flying in English.candidate-reported
- ✈Portuguese-language ability is assessed for mainline roles; expect to demonstrate it.candidate-reported
- ✈HR / competency themes: teamwork, CRM, handling failure, motivation for TAP, and commitment to a Lisbon base.candidate-reported
- ✈Final panel (DFO + HR + psychologist) blends operational judgement with personality/fit; consistency with your psychometric profile matters.candidate-reported
- ✈Founder note: TAP does not publish an official question list — treat any 'exact TAP question' from a paid prep vendor as unverified marketing, not airline policy.
Cadet / graduate pathway (FTEJerez)
TAP's named ab-initio pipeline. This is the most concrete official cadet route on record; other Portuguese academies (e.g. Sevenair/Airbus) train EASA pilots but have no verified guaranteed-placement deal with TAP.
- ✈In March 2019 TAP Air Portugal and FTEJerez signed an agreement for FTE to feed graduates into TAP First Officer selection.
- ✈FTEJerez nominates its strongest EASA ATPL graduates who meet TAP's criteria; nominees can apply for FO and be invited to assessment in Lisbon.
- ✈It is a preferred-pipeline / opportunity-to-apply, not an automatic guaranteed job — candidates still pass TAP's full assessment.
- ✈No verified guaranteed-placement agreement between TAP and Sevenair Academy / Airbus Flight Academy Portugal could be confirmed; do not assume one exists.
Aptitude stage
Practise the TAP Air Portugal battery, not aptitude in general
Timed papers built from the families TAP Air Portugal is reported to use, with the sourced line behind each one — plus the parts we deliberately do not simulate and why.
Open the TAP Air Portugal aptitude papers →Practise the TAP Air Portugal board until it’s second nature
Unlimited AI mock interviews grounded in real TAP Air Portugal gouge — technical, TMAAT, and sim scenarios with instant feedback. A human coach is $649 for 3 hours; this starts at $79 one-time, no subscription.
See pricing & unlock →AI practice tool. Not affiliated with or endorsed by TAP Air Portugal. For preparation purposes only.
Sources
- TAP official recruitment portal (recrutamento.tap.pt) — airline-official; states pilot openings are announced there and spontaneous FO applications are not accepted.
- FTEJerez official news release, 21 Mar 2019 — airline/school-official; details the TAP–FTEJerez graduate-placement agreement and Lisbon assessment.
- iCadet.com article on TAP hiring FTEJerez graduates — secondary/aggregator; lists assessment components (WOMBAT, group exercise, written test, medical, final panel).
- PPRuNe Forums, TAP pilot recruitment threads — first-hand candidate debriefs; English written test + interview, psychometrics, group + individual interviews, sim with engine/computer failures and DIRECT LAW landing for type-rated candidates.
- PilotAptitudeTest.com and PilotAssessments.com (PASS) — prep-vendor (treat as reported/marketing); six-stage outline, reasoning/maths/English/A320 tests, Big Five personality prep.
- AviationJobs.me / job-ad aggregators — secondary job listings; A320 FO Lisbon base, EASA ATPL/frozen ATPL, Class 1 medical, ICAO English L4+, Portuguese+English, EU work rights, MCC.
- Pilot Career Center / Pilot Jobs Network TAP profiles — secondary recruitment-data aggregators; fleet, base and requirement context.
- Glassdoor TAP Portugal interview page — first-hand but unverified employee/candidate reports; corroborating interview-stage signal only.
Items marked “candidate-reported” come from pilot forums and prep sources, not from British Airways. BA does not publish its question bank or test content. Always verify against the live BA careers pages.