By country / Türkiye
How to become cabin crew in Türkiye
One of the fastest-growing crew markets in the world, on your doorstep at Istanbul.
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Türkiye is one of the best places in the world to start a cabin crew career, simply because of scale. Turkish Airlines operates one of the largest route networks anywhere from Istanbul and recruits cabin crew continuously and in volume; Pegasus, AJet and SunExpress add thousands more seats at Sabiha Gökçen, Istanbul, Antalya and İzmir. Unlike most countries on this list, a Turkish candidate does not need to emigrate to build a serious long-haul career - THY flies further than most Gulf carriers.
The process is centralised and formal. Turkish Airlines runs online applications through careers.turkishairlines.com, followed by an in-person evaluation at the assessment centre in Florya, Istanbul, where candidates are measured for height and weight, checked for tattoos and scars, and assessed face to face for English. This is a real, structured filter - candidates who show up without having verified their own measurements and English level are cut quickly.
The catch is inflation. Turkish crew salaries have risen steeply in nominal lira terms, which looks impressive in a table but tracks a currency that keeps moving. What genuinely protects Turkish crew income is the foreign-currency per diem on international layovers, typically in the range of 50-100 EUR per day depending on destination, which is why long-haul rosters are so competitive internally.
What Türkiye employers and recruiters expect
Age
SHGM sets 18 as the floor for cabin crew in Türkiye; THY and Pegasus typically recruit in the 18-28 band for inexperienced crew. Emirates and Qatar require 21 at joining.
Education
Lise (high school) diploma minimum. A two-year or four-year degree, especially in tourism, hospitality or aviation cabin services, strengthens a THY application but is not mandatory.
Height / physique
Roughly 160 cm+ for women and 170 cm+ for men, with weight proportionate - THY measures height and weight at the Florya assessment centre and checks visible tattoos and scars.
Language
Minimum B2 English, assessed face to face at the assessment centre rather than by certificate alone. A second language - German, Russian, Arabic, French, Spanish - is a significant advantage on THY's network.
Medical
A SHGM-recognised cabin crew medical fitness report (uçuşa elverişlilik) plus swim ability, before the 6-8 week cabin crew training programme.
Other
Turkish citizenship or work rights; for male candidates, completed or deferred military service. Clean criminal record for airport ID.
Airlines that recruit here
Turkish AirlinesActively hiring · Istanbul
Pegasus AirlinesActively hiring · Istanbul (Sabiha Gökçen)
AJetActively hiring · Istanbul (Sabiha Gökçen)
SunExpressActively hiring · Antalya
Qatar AirwaysActively hiring · Doha
EmiratesActively hiring · DubaiWhat you can realistically earn
Turkish Airlines, new cabin crew
₺70.000 - ₺100.000 net per month
Basic plus flight pay and accommodation compensation. Roughly USD 1,500-2,200 at about ₺46 to the dollar - but the lira moves fast, so treat the dollar figure as approximate and expect nominal lira figures to be revised upward over time.
Pegasus / AJet / SunExpress, new cabin crew
₺45.000 - ₺80.000 net per month
Roughly USD 980-1,740. Lower than THY because the network is largely short-haul, so there are fewer foreign-currency per diems in the mix.
Turkish Airlines, experienced crew / purser
₺120.000 - ₺180.000+ net per month
Roughly USD 2,600-3,900. Long-haul international per diems at 50-100 EUR per layover day are a large and inflation-protected part of senior crew income.
The route to a Gulf or international carrier
Turkish candidates are in the unusual position of not needing the Gulf - Turkish Airlines offers a comparable network and lets you stay home. That said, Emirates and Qatar Airways both recruit in Istanbul, and the Gulf argument is currency: a dirham or riyal package is inflation-proof in a way a lira package is not, and it comes with accommodation. Turkish applicants generally do well on presentation and service instinct; where they fail is English. Gulf assessment days are conducted entirely in English, including a group exercise where you must persuade and summarise in real time, and a B2-level exam pass does not always translate into that. If you are targeting the Gulf, do spoken English practice with a partner under time pressure, not grammar drills. The second issue is documentation for men: Turkish male candidates must have completed or deferred military service, and an unclear status stalls an offer. Emirates requires 21 at joining and 212 cm arm reach; Qatar the same reach; neither allows tattoos visible in uniform.
Your step-by-step plan
- 01Get a valid Turkish passport and, for male candidates, resolve your military service status (completed or formally deferred) before applying.
- 02Assess your English honestly. Get to a genuine spoken B2 - THY tests you in person at Florya, and this is the most common failure point for otherwise strong candidates.
- 03Apply on careers.turkishairlines.com for kabin ekibi openings, and separately on the Pegasus, AJet and SunExpress career portals. Applications are online only.
- 04If invited, prepare for the Florya assessment centre: height and weight measurement, tattoo and scar check, English evaluation and interview. Bring your diploma and identity documents.
- 05On selection, complete the SHGM cabin crew medical, then the 6-8 week initial training programme covering safety, first aid, evacuation and service.
- 06Once flying, build hours and a second language. Long-haul rosters and purser progression are where Turkish crew income genuinely changes, and language capability is what gets you there.
Avoid these traps
- ⚠Private "kabin memurluğu kursu" schools charging tens of thousands of lira for a pre-employment certificate are selling something airlines do not require. THY, Pegasus and AJet all run their own SHGM-approved initial training after selection, at their own cost. A private course does not shortcut the Florya assessment.
- ⚠Ignore anyone claiming a referral, connection or paid shortlist route into Turkish Airlines. Applications are processed only through careers.turkishairlines.com, and payment for an interview slot or a reference is a scam.
- ⚠Do not treat a lira headline salary as the whole story. Basic pay is a minority of the total; the rest is flight pay and per diems that vary with your roster. A quiet month is a materially smaller pay packet, and inflation erodes the fixed part between revisions.
- ⚠Be careful with social media accounts posting "THY kabin memuru alımı" announcements with application links. Fake pages harvesting personal data and ID document scans are common - the only real application URL is the airline's own careers domain.
Training providers in Türkiye
Listed for reference — remember that airlines train their own crew for free.
Turkish Airlines Aviation Academy
Istanbul · Free — airline-paid (trainees are salaried)
Turkish Airlines pays you during training and feeds you — anyone charging for a THY preparation course is selling interview coaching, not a shortcut.
İstanbul Topkapı Üniversitesi — Civil Aviation Cabin Services
Istanbul · ~$3,000 per year
Worth it if you want a recognised Turkish degree plus the SHGM certificate in one go; overkill if you only want to fly and could be hired and trained by an airline directly.
İstanbul Kültür Üniversitesi — Civil Aviation Cabin Services
Istanbul · ~$3,500 per year
A genuine university credential, but remember Turkish Airlines and Pegasus hire non-graduates too and train them at their own cost.
Kapadokya Üniversitesi — Civil Aviation Cabin Services
Nevşehir · ~$2,500 per year
The longest track record of any Turkish university programme in this field, and cheaper than the Istanbul options — but it is a degree route, not a fast track.
Do you actually meet the requirements?
Answer five questions about your age, reach, tattoos, languages and documents — we check them against every airline's published requirements and show you exactly where you stand.
Frequently asked questions
THY kabin memuru olmak için şartlar nelerdir?
En az lise mezuniyeti, kadınlar için yaklaşık 160 cm ve erkekler için 170 cm boy, kiloyla orantılı fizik, görünür dövme ve iz bulunmaması, minimum B2 seviyesinde İngilizce ve SHGM onaylı uçuşa elverişlilik sağlık raporu. Başvurular yalnızca careers.turkishairlines.com üzerinden yapılır; ardından İstanbul Florya değerlendirme merkezine davet edilirsiniz.
Kabin memuru maaşı 2026 ne kadar?
Türk Hava Yolları'nda yeni başlayan kabin memurları için net aylık kazanç genellikle ₺70.000-100.000 aralığında; Pegasus, AJet ve SunExpress'te ₺45.000-80.000. Deneyimli kabin amirleri ₺120.000-180.000 ve üzerine çıkabiliyor. Bu tutarın önemli bir kısmı uçuş primi ve yurt dışı harcırahından (günlük 50-100 EUR) geliyor, dolayısıyla uçuş yoğunluğuna göre değişir.
Is it better for a Turkish candidate to join Turkish Airlines or Emirates?
Turkish Airlines gives you a genuinely global long-haul network without emigrating, and career progression at home. Emirates pays in a stable, tax-free currency with accommodation provided, which protects you from lira inflation. Many Turkish crew start at THY, Pegasus or AJet and apply to the Gulf later with experience - the experience makes the Gulf application significantly stronger.