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
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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.
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- 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.