AJet and Pegasus versus Turkish Airlines for a Turkish speaker abroad: which one hires from outside Türkiye and what the contracts look like

THY, and I get messages from Turkish speakers in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and the UK asking which Turkish carrier will hire them and what the contract looks like from abroad. Here is the current picture for the three main options.

Turkish Airlines

Hires Turkish nationals abroad through the international recruitment events and the online application. A Turkish passport or dual citizenship helps a great deal; a German passport with fluent Turkish is treated as a foreign language hire, which is possible but a different route. The contract is the Hava-İş agreement, Istanbul base, accommodation for foreign hires at the start. The wide body network is the prize. The training is eight weeks in Istanbul.

AJet

The Turkish Airlines group's low cost carrier, formerly AnadoluJet, based at Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen and Ankara. Hires Turkish nationals mainly, including from the diaspora with the right to work. The contract is a low cost structure: lower basic, sector pay, a younger crew, narrow body, domestic and regional international. Promotion is faster than at the mainline because the operation is growing. AJet is increasingly the entry door into the group for young Turkish crew, and the move from AJet to THY mainline exists but is not automatic.

Pegasus

The independent low cost carrier, Sabiha Gökçen based, with a large European and Middle East network. Hires Turkish nationals and, for some bases, non Turkish crew with the right to work in Türkiye. The contract is the low cost model: sector pay, sales commission, a fast operation, a young crew. Pegasus is known for hiring fast and training well. The pay is comparable to AJet and below the mainline; the culture is more informal.

For a Turkish speaker in Germany

If you have a Turkish passport: apply to all three, take the mainline if it comes, take AJet or Pegasus if it comes first and reapply to the mainline with hours. If you only have the German passport: THY as a German language hire is realistic, Pegasus is possible, AJet less so. In all cases fluent Turkish is not optional; the operation runs in Turkish.

The honest comparison

Mainline: the network, the union agreement, the slower promotion, the narrow body years first. AJet and Pegasus: the faster promotion, the lower pay, the sector counts, home every night in Istanbul. A lot of the young crew at both low cost carriers are on their way to the mainline or to the Gulf, and both are fine places to start.

The Istanbul question

Whichever you pick, you live in Istanbul, which is enormous, alive and expensive in the good districts. The Sabiha Gökçen side (AJet, Pegasus) is the Asian side; the new airport (THY) is on the far European side. Pick your flat by your airport, not by the district you like, or the commute will end your career before the roster does.