Pay & conditions · Africa
Kenya Airways: pilot jobs, pay and conditions
Kenya · Legacy · KQ / KQA
Hiring selectively
Recruits low-hour Kenyan-citizen FOs on contract; expat hiring historically opposed by pilots' union.
Pay
Unofficial figures. Not from an agreement or the airline: collected from pilot forums, salary sites and other public sources. Treat them as indicative.
First officer
KES 315,000–517,000 a month
about $29–48k a year
Captain
KES 1,500,000–2,000,000 a month
about $139–185k a year
Indicative 2026 press figures, not a published scale.
Open vacancies (0)
No open pilot vacancies listed right now.
Conditions
- Allowances
- Flying-related pay; amounts not published.
- Roster
- Not published.
- Bases
- NBO
- Fleet
- B787-8, B737-800, E190
- Benefits
- Staff travel, medical and welfare benefits.
- Union
- KALPA (Kenya Airline Pilots Association)
- Careers site
- kenya-airways.com ↗
Requirements
- First officer
- 250 hours minimum
- Type rating
- unknown
- Licence
- KCAA CPL/ATPL with IR, ME, Perf A, Class 1, English L4
- Other
- FO: Kenyan citizen, 200 hrs for interview, min height 160 cm.
Sources
Not from an official source: figures collected from pilot forums, salary sites and other public sources. Indicative only · figures from 2026-09 · checked 27 Oct 2026
- Aviation A2Z: Kenya Airways pilot salary 2026
- AviationCV: Kenya Airways First Officer
- Business Daily: KQ faces pilots' strike over expatriates
Compare Kenya Airways with other airlines → All pilot salaries →