Legacy long-haul airline

Lufthansa pilot recruitment

LH / DLH

The German flag carrier, a founding member of the Star Alliance in 1997, with its two hubs in Frankfurt and Munich and a vast long- and medium-haul network.

Lufthansa fleet, hub and head office

387

Aircraft in the fleet

1953

Founded

Head office

Cologne, Germany

Main hub

Frankfurt (main), Munich (secondary)

Fleet (aircraft types operated)

Airbus A319/A320/A321 (including A320neo/A321neo), A330, A340, A350, A380; Boeing 747, 787; Bombardier CRJ, Embraer (regional)

Pilot recruitment at Lufthansa

Recruits qualified pilots, but is also historically one of the best-known European airlines for its own structured ab initio cadet programme, run through its training subsidiary Lufthansa Aviation Training, with part of the training delivered at its own sites (Germany and, historically, the United States). Very diverse fleet (Airbus and Boeing, medium- and long-haul), hence many possible type ratings depending on the posting.

Fleet: 387 aircraft as of 31 December 2025 (regional airlines and Discover Airlines included), according to Lufthansa Group, annual report 2025 (fleet). Recruitment information is given as a guide only (public sources, subject to change over time): always check the current conditions on the airline's careers site.

History of Lufthansa

Founded in 1953 to succeed the historic Deutsche Luft Hansa (1926), Lufthansa became the national airline of West Germany and then of reunified Germany. In 1997 it was behind the creation of Star Alliance, the first major global airline alliance, and has since built a group that includes Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings.

Pay and conditions, from public sources

Figures published by the airline, pilot unions or the press, each one dated (last update: August 2026). For information only.

First officer: according to Lufthansa, a first officer started at €69,000 gross per year before the 2022 pay deal (September 2022).
Captain: up to €250,000 gross per year at the highest seniority step, according to Lufthansa (September 2022).
2022 deal: two flat raises of €490 gross per month to base pay (August 2022 and April 2023), about +20% for junior first officers and +5.5% for top-scale captains (September 2022).
2023 agreement: about 5,200 Lufthansa and Lufthansa Cargo pilots received over 18% in total scale increases (+7% in December 2023, +5% in January 2025, +5% in January 2026), plus a one-off 2023 payment capped at €3,000 (August 2023).
Conditions: the 2023 deal provides ten fixed days off per month and more roster stability; the pay agreement runs until at least end-2026 and the working-conditions agreement until end-2027 (August 2023).
Pensions: Vereinigung Cockpit terminated the company pension and transitional early-retirement agreements; talks were still deadlocked in spring 2026 (March 2026).
Industrial action: after seven strike days in 2026, VC and Lufthansa agreed an arbitration process covering Lufthansa, Lufthansa Cargo, Cityline and Eurowings, taking strikes off the table for now (August 2026).

Sources read (4)

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Preparing for psychometric tests before a selection

Some pilot selections include psychometric tests. ForAllPilots does not say whether Lufthansa uses them, or which ones: none of the series below is presented as Lufthansa's.

To practise anyway, the site offers several series of exercises, included with the ATPL subscription. They are practice exercises, not official tests: ForAllPilots is not affiliated with any airline or any test publisher, and the exact rules or scoring may differ.

Blog guides to practise with

Prepare your theory: BIA, PPL and ATPL questions

Whether you are aiming for Lufthansa or another airline, the ForAllPilots revision bank covers the BIA, the PPL and the ATPL.

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Other airlines

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