Porter Airlines · First Officer / Copilote
First Officer Dash 8-400 - Toronto or Ottawa base
Porter Airlines is hiring first officers to operate its Dash 8-400 turboprop aircraft. Positions are based in Toronto or Ottawa depending on operational needs.
- Employer
- Porter Airlines
- Position
- First Officer / Copilote
- Base
- Toronto (Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport) et Ottawa (Macdonald-Cartier International Airport), Canada
- Aircraft
- De Havilland Dash 8-400
- Pay (public sources)
- E195-E2 captain: about CAD 215 to 302 gross per hour; first officer: about CAD 75 to 156 per hour depending on fleet (2026)
- Posted
- 14 September 2026
Key points
- Aircraft: De Havilland Dash 8-400
- Possible bases: Toronto (YTZ) or Ottawa (YOW)
- Company in strong growth, planning to welcome many new pilots over the coming years
- Possibility of fast upgrade to narrow-body jet captain role
What the employer asks for
- Airline Transport Pilot Licence (Transport Canada) or IATRA
- Minimum 1,000 hours total flight time
- Aviation college or university degree considered an asset but not mandatory
- Legal right to work in Canada
- Valid Canadian passport, or valid international passport with valid US Crewmember Visa (C-1/D)
- Candidates not meeting minimum requirements may still be considered based on experience
What the employer offers
- Pay described as industry leading for the Dash 8-400
- Recognition of years of service on the Dash 8-400 at other carriers
- Fast seniority progression due to company growth
- Fast-track pathway to narrow-body jet captain role
Summary written by ForAllPilots from the employer's posting. Only the official posting counts: check every condition before you apply.
Regional airline
Porter Airlines at a glance
Canadian airline launched in 2006 at Toronto's Billy Bishop island airport with Dash 8-400 turboprops, which has since expanded with Embraer E195-E2 jets to western Canada, the United States and the Caribbean.
- Bases
- Toronto Billy Bishop, Toronto Pearson and Ottawa; Halifax and Montreal as focus cities
- Fleet
- De Havilland Canada Dash 8-400 and Embraer E195-E2
Pilot recruitment
Two fleets: the Dash 8-400 turboprop and the Embraer E195-E2 jet. Hiring is under Transport Canada licensing. For candidates with no flying experience, the « Destination Porter: Cadet Program », run with Cygnet Aviation Academy and CAE, offers about 20 months of integrated ATPL training in Kingston, Ontario, followed by about 2 months of Dash 8-400 type training at CAE Toronto; accepted cadets receive a conditional offer of employment as a Dash 8-400 first officer before training starts. Stated conditions: Canadian citizenship or permanent residence, a post-secondary degree or diploma, minimum age 18, a Transport Canada Category 1 medical and ICAO English level 4 minimum. The course is self-funded, and applicants already holding or working towards a commercial licence are directed to regular hiring. Porter also recruits direct-entry first officers and captains on both fleets; check conditions and open positions on the Porter careers page.
Pay and conditions, from public sources
Figures published by the airline, pilot unions or the press, each one dated (last update: September 2026). For information only.
- Captain: on the E195-E2, about CAD 215 gross per hour in year 1 and CAD 302 at top of scale (year 12); on the Dash 8-400, about CAD 121 in year 1 and CAD 170 at year 15 (April 2026, scale derived by AVCentral).
- First officer: on the E195-E2, about CAD 91 gross per hour in year 1 and CAD 156 at year 10; on the Dash 8-400, about CAD 75 in year 1 and CAD 93 at year 10 (April 2026).
- Guarantee of 77.5 paid hours per month; on that basis AVCentral estimates about CAD 200,000 to 281,000 gross per year for an E2 captain and about CAD 70,000 for a first-year Dash 8 first officer (April 2026).
- These scales are based on the company's January 2025 scale plus a 1.5% increase on 1 January 2026; they predate any collective agreement (April 2026).
- More than 800 pilots, based in Toronto, Vancouver, Thunder Bay, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax, joined ALPA, certified on 11 August 2025, and began bargaining for a first collective agreement (September 2025).
- In September 2026 ALPA requested federal conciliation; Porter called this premature, saying the union had only recently tabled its wage and scheduling proposals (September 2026).
- The Destination Porter programme lets pilots interview for a first officer role from 500 flight hours; the offer is conditional on passing the ATPL/IATRA exams and reaching 1,000 hours (careers page accessed October 2026).
Sources read (4)
Give yourself every chance
A first officer selection usually combines a technical test (ATPL and aircraft knowledge), aptitude tests, a group exercise, an HR and technical interview, then a simulator check.
Revise the ATPL subjects that come up most in technical interviews: performance, meteorology, systems, procedures. Prepare concrete examples of crew teamwork for the interview.
If the posting mentions aptitude tests, practise the most common families of exercises: mental arithmetic, multitasking, orientation, reasoning.