Airline Captain Overview

There are certain skills that many airline captains have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed observational skills, problem-solving skills and quick reaction time.

When it comes to the most important skills required to be an airline captain, we found that a lot of resumes listed 27.9% of airline captains included ensure safety, while 13.5% of resumes included aircraft systems, and 9.6% of resumes included flight crew personnel. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.

When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the airline captain job title. But what industry to start with? Most airline captains actually find jobs in the transportation and technology industries.

If you're interested in becoming an airline captain, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 51.1% of airline captains have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 17.0% of airline captains have master's degrees. Even though most airline captains have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become an airline captain. When we researched the most common majors for an airline captain, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on airline captain resumes include associate degree degrees or high school diploma degrees.

You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become an airline captain. In fact, many airline captain jobs require experience in a role such as flight instructor. Meanwhile, many airline captains also have previous career experience in roles such as pilot or corporate pilot.