0 if you don't apply.

 

Is it possible under the new system for someone to send a preview of their app like how you could with airline apps? Thanks.

 

Any current data on the cjo to class date timeline?

 

What's considered the minimum/competitive hours... these days?
I was under the impression that Delta only hired military, so if you were civilian you were pretty much out of luck.
If they hire civilian at all in 2026... is 5k, 10k hours competitive? 15+ or maybe more?

I was also under the impression they liked their new-hires to spend a few years at the wholly-owned (Endeavor) before onboarding them, or at least at a "competitor" mainline (United or American) before a conditional offer. Is that still true?

Thanks in advance.

 

Military just tends to have less TT due to single seat/fighter time. Here is the last class, which is pretty representative to how it's been for the past few years:

April 14, 2026 Class Demographics:

8 Military Pilots: 17%
4 USAF, 1 USN, 2 USMC, and 1 German Air Force

39 Civilian Pilots: 83%
7 Envoy, 5 SkyWest, 1 GoJet, 1 Mesa, 1 Piedmont, 1 PSA, 1 Republic, 1 Alaska, 1 American, 1 FedEx, 1 Southwest, 1 UPS, 1 Air Canada, 1 Allegiant, 1 Atlas, 7 Frontier, 1 Corporate, 5 Spirit, 1 Kalitta


Lowest Time: 2,000 hours (USAF)
Highest Time: 14,700 hours (Frontier Airlines)
Average Time: 4,352 hours

Ages:
Oldest is 52 years
Youngest is 25 years
Average age is 27 years

 

I’m a somewhat jr CA. Probably 80% of the FOs I fly with (almost all 2023-2025 hires) never flew in the military.

the “delta only hires military pilots” seems to be a pre NW merger stereotype. Everything I’ve saw when I was applying before Covid was it was close to a 50/50 split 2014-2020, with civilians making up the vast majority of post covid hires.

 

The guys above me here answered your questions pretty well - really good data in those posts to see what the trend is.

Delta hasn’t been “Military only” or even Military majority in a couple decades at least. Most of our new hires are coming from regionals not named Endeavor and the vast majority don’t have military experience. A handful of dudes move over from LCCs, and a few come from other legacies.

Average flight times being published for new hires is artificially inflated due to the number of guys we’ve taken from ULCCs who have 10,000+ hours and are trying to hop off the sinking ship(s). Without those numbers baked in, the average flight times would be under 4K.

 

Completely agree.

Not sure what’s currently considered competitive, but I’m sure we have had a least one non-military hired under 3,000 too. And if we really do hire 2400 this year, that will become more of the norm.

 

I think the last time that was true for any of the airlines was the late 80's. AA and DAL seemed to hang on to that demographic the longest, while UAL and NWA were more broadly hiring. Don't forget there were more majors back then as well. FedEx for a time in the 90s only hired ex-Navy folks. By the time you go into the late 90s, everyone was hiring across the board. By about 2014 the scales had flipped.

 

Hello all!

Just got my interview scheduled for July 16th and figured I'd chime in my information for those curious.

First applied back in January, received my fix it email April 4th, AON invite on the 18th, invited to interview on the 20th.

Hours:
TOT: 2150
TSIC: 1120
TPIC: 0

Bachelors Degree, Summa Cum Laude - 4.0 GPA
5 year enlisted military
Veteran group volunteer
ALPA Volunteer at my regional

Interview is scheduled so far away due to my captain upgrade being scheduled right where interview availability was.

I monitor these forums constantly and this is my first time ever posting. I am written to encourage all of you still in the process no matter your experience! I am no one special, my background isn't necessarily interesting compared to many others already at Delta, but it is all me.

Excited to hopefully meet some of y'all at the interview or while working the line!

Semper Fi