Akasa Air Pilot Requirements 2026: Hours, License and Hiring Process

Akasa Air, the Mumbai-based airline that flies only the Boeing 737 MAX, recruits First Officers through two doors, as its “Hiring Pilots” page lists them in the copy the Internet Archive saved on 18 April 2026 (the live page refuses our requests, and search results on 17 October 2026 relay the same wording): experienced First Officers with at least 500 hours of jet or turboprop flying, and freshers who already hold a valid B737 type rating. The page says your licenses and DGCA medical must be valid on the date of joining. At the last check, on 17 October 2026, we found no Captain track and no closing date, and the SkyCadet Programme, Akasa’s ab-initio route for Indian citizens aged 18 to 40, was closed to applications. Akasa resumed pilot hiring in December 2025, after pausing it in June 2024 when Boeing’s deliveries ran late (CAPA). Its 42nd 737 MAX, of the 226 it has ordered, arrived on 1 September 2026 (Free Press Journal), and it flies from bases in Bengaluru, Mumbai and, since October 2025, Delhi (Akasa Air).

Is Akasa Air hiring pilots now?

Recruiting at the last check on 17 October 2026 — First Officer seat: Recruiting; Captain seat: Unconfirmed. Search results show the “Hiring Pilots” page listing First Officers from 500 h of jet or turboprop flying, and CPL freshers, with no Captain track; SkyCadet ab initio closed to applications

Why Akasa is hiring again

Akasa hired pilots ahead of its aircraft and then had to wait for the aircraft. In January 2025 The Hindu reported that about 400 of its roughly 850 pilots had yet to start flying with it, because Boeing’s deliveries had fallen behind (as relayed by ch-aviation, January 2025). Its chief executive has said that Akasa paused pilot recruitment from June 2024 because of Boeing’s delivery delays and resumed it in December 2025 (CAPA, 2026). Deliveries have continued since: the 40th aircraft, a 737-8-200, landed in Bengaluru on 3 July 2026, the ninth of the year (Akasa Air), and the 42nd at Navi Mumbai on 1 September 2026, the eleventh (Free Press Journal). Akasa also pays its pilots to stay: in March 2026 Business Standard reported, from an internal email to pilots, a retention plan worth Rs 25 lakh to Captains and trainee Captains and Rs 10 lakh to Senior First Officers, paid in three installments from August 2027 to those still employed on each date.

Akasa beside India’s two other large recruiters and two of the region’s, as recorded at each airline’s last check:

Read the right-to-work column first, then the type rating: where an airline arranges or provides the rating, you can join without having flown its type.

Requirements, as published

Reading the requirements line by line

• 500 hours of jet or turboprop flying. The experienced track names only jet and turboprop time, so a turboprop First Officer’s hours count in full; do not count piston hours from flight school toward the 500 without asking. The page asks for no type rating on this track, so a First Officer on the ATR or the A320 can apply without a 737 rating.
• Freshers: a B737 rating, the CPL and its papers. A DGCA CPL needs at least 200 hours of flight time under Section J of the Aircraft Rules, 1937, a valid Class 1, a valid FRTOL and RTR, ICAO English Level 4 or above, and the DGCA written papers: Air Regulations, Air Navigation, Aircraft and Engines, Aviation Meteorology and, where it applies, Performance (DGCA’s eGCA guide to the CPL). Akasa’s freshers’ track is for B737 type-rated freshers: a valid B737 type rating is mandatory. Older search results relayed a track for CPL holders without a rating, which the April 2026 copy of the page no longer shows, so confirm the track is open before you pay for a rating.
• Valid on the date of joining. Akasa’s page asks that your licenses and DGCA medical be valid when you join, not only when you apply. A DGCA Class 1 is valid for 12 months for pilots under 60 in multi-crew commercial air transport, and you may renew it from 45 days before it expires (DGCA’s list of Class 1 centers, updated 27 August 2026).
• A DGCA license, and no nationality rule that we could find. The page asks for a DGCA medical, and a job-board profile of Akasa for an Indian DGCA license, so a pilot trained abroad needs the DGCA license first; Indian licenses are issued to holders of other ICAO states’ licenses under CAR Section 7, Series G, Part I. Akasa’s page states no nationality rule for licensed pilots; the same job-board profile asks for the legal right to live and work in India.
• No Captain track found. The April 2026 copy of the page lists none, and search results on 17 October 2026 show none either. Akasa has promoted its own First Officers to Captain since September 2023, when the first two were upgraded internally and Akasa said it planned 40 to 50 more upgrades within a year (Akasa Air, September 2023).
• No fees, and a notice period. Akasa does not charge recruitment fees: in an interim order of 22 December 2025, the Delhi High Court found that it follows no such practice and ordered the websites, phone numbers and bank accounts of people impersonating it in a job scam blocked (LiveLaw, December 2025), so apply only through the links on akasaair.com. Akasa has also enforced notice periods: in September 2023 it went to court against pilots who had left without serving them (Outlook Business, September 2023).

Entry routes

• Direct entry First Officer — experienced: at least 500 h of jet or turboprop flying; no type rating asked for (Hiring Pilots page as archived on 18 April 2026; search results of 17 October 2026 show the same)
• Direct entry First Officer — B737 type-rated freshers: a valid B737 type rating is mandatory (Hiring Pilots page as archived on 18 April 2026; search results of 17 October 2026 show the same)
• Akasa SkyCadet Programme — ab initio for Indian citizens, 18 to 40, 10+2 with physics, mathematics and English, with Skynex Aero (Jalgaon) and Dunes Aviation Academy (Bhavnagar): ground school, CPL and a 737 MAX type rating; applications closed at the last check (SkyCadet page, 17 October 2026, as indexed)
• Captain — no track on Akasa’s pilot page (archived 18 April 2026; search results of 17 October 2026 show none either); command by internal upgrade since September 2023

The Akasa SkyCadet Programme

Akasa launched SkyCadet on 11 June 2026, its own route from no flying experience to a Boeing 737 MAX type rating, with two flight training organizations on DGCA’s approved list, Skynex Aero in Jalgaon and Dunes Aviation Academy in Bhavnagar. It runs in three phases: ground school, CPL flight training, and the 737 MAX type rating. Akasa’s SkyCadet page, in the Internet Archive’s 2026 copy, asks for:

• Indian citizenship;
• an age of at least 18 when you apply and no more than 40 at enrollment;
• 10+2 with physics, mathematics and English, and good written and spoken English;
• a clean criminal and disciplinary record.

At the last check, on 17 October 2026, the page said applications were closed, as the archived copy and search results both show, and Skynex Aero had welcomed the first cadets, batch AKS01, in September 2026 (afm.aero). The page says the fee structure is shared in the application form, and publishes neither who pays it nor the terms after training, and the figures in Indian training guides are not Akasa’s, so ask before you commit. It also says that Akasa does not engage or partner with any organization, third party or agency for induction training with Akasa, and does not endorse or recommend any, so a coaching institute that claims to be Akasa’s partner for its selection is not one. When it launched SkyCadet, Akasa said it would keep hiring CPL holders and B737 type-rated pilots alongside it.

Selection process

1. A pre-employment assessment once you meet the criteria: a personal interview
2. A psychological assessment and a drug test
3. A simulator evaluation
4. An interactive session with the Pilot Recruitment Team

Bases and fleet

Bases: Bengaluru and Mumbai, its first two operational bases; its head office is in Mumbai · Delhi: its third operational base from 27 October 2025, as Akasa announced on 17 October 2025 (as reported) · Akasa’s pilot page, as search results show it, names no bases for new First Officers

Fleet: 42 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, 737-8s and 737-8-200s, after VT-YBS arrived at Navi Mumbai on 1 September 2026, the eleventh delivery of 2026 (Free Press Journal, September 2026) · 226 Boeing 737 MAX on firm order; 186 were still to come after the 40th arrived in Bengaluru on 3 July 2026 (Akasa Air, 4 July 2026) · 28 domestic and seven international destinations in July 2026: Abu Dhabi, Doha, Hanoi, Jeddah, Kuwait City, Phuket and Riyadh

How to prepare

Akasa flies only the 737 MAX, the 737-8 and the 737-8-200, so the B737 bank below is the one to work: it covers the 737’s systems, limitations and procedures, with the 737 NG to MAX quiz for what the MAX changes, and the B737 interview set has systems and scenario questions for anything you are asked about the type at the interview or the simulator brief. If your 500 hours are on a turboprop or an Airbus, learn the MAX’s flight controls, its LEAP-1B engines and MCAS before the simulator evaluation. Akasa’s page lists a psychological assessment beside the drug test without saying what it contains, so prepare for the personal interview as for any competency interview, with the CRM interview set for the crew resource management and threat and error management questions. Freshers, who join with a 737 rating, can keep the theory fresh with the ATPL theory banks, which follow the EASA syllabus rather than the DGCA’s. Do the paperwork first: the page wants your licenses and DGCA medical valid on the date of joining, so renew a Class 1 that would lapse during the process, keep your FRTOL and RTR valid, and total your logbook with jet and turboprop time on their own line.

Akasa has no interview guide on v1prep yet, so for the personal interview read the complete airline pilot interview guide and the Library’s competency-based pilot interviews, and for the simulator evaluation its airline simulator assessment. For the aircraft, our 737 NG to MAX Difference Training course sets out what changed from the 737NG, the Library’s 737 pitch control and stabilizer trim covers MCAS and the runaway stabilizer procedure, and our top 25 B737 type rating questions are a quick check. The license route from zero hours is on how to become an airline pilot in India, and India’s two other large recruiters are on IndiGo pilot requirements and Air India pilot requirements. Check Akasa’s entry on the jobs board for the latest status.

What we could not confirm

• Researched on 17 October 2026 from the Internet Archive’s copies of Akasa Air’s careers and SkyCadet pages (2026), search-engine results, its press releases and aviation press; the live pages refused our requests. Confirm the vacancy is still open before you apply.
• Whether both First Officer routes are taking applications now: the live page refuses our requests, and the latest copy we could read is the Internet Archive’s of 18 April 2026, which gives no dates
• Type-rating funding terms: who pays for the 737 rating of pilots who join without one, and whether a training bond applies
• Whether Akasa hires Captains from outside: search results show no Captain track on its pilot page, and it has promoted its own First Officers to Captain since September 2023
• The right to work and nationality rules for licensed pilots, and any age limits: Akasa’s page, as search results show it, states none; a job-board profile asks for the legal right to live and work in India
• The SkyCadet fee, who pays it and the terms after training, which Akasa’s page does not publish, and the date of the next intake
• Which bases new First Officers are posted to, Delhi among them
• Pay: Akasa publishes no pay scale; figures on salary sites are not Akasa’s

These points are not published clearly by the airline. Treat them as leads, not facts, and confirm them on the careers page: careers page.

Common questions

Is Akasa Air hiring pilots? Yes for First Officers, as far as we could check: Akasa’s “Hiring Pilots” page, in the copy the Internet Archive saved on 18 April 2026 and as search results still showed it on 17 October 2026, lists experienced First Officers with at least 500 hours of jet or turboprop flying and freshers who already hold a valid B737 type rating, with no closing date; the live page refuses our requests. It lists no Captain track, and the SkyCadet page said applications were closed. Akasa resumed pilot hiring in December 2025, after a pause that began in June 2024 (CAPA).

How many hours do you need to fly for Akasa Air? At least 500 hours of jet or turboprop flying for an experienced First Officer, as Akasa’s page states them. Freshers need a valid B737 type rating and a DGCA CPL, which itself requires at least 200 hours of flight time; the page sets no further hours for them. SkyCadet cadets start with no hours.

Does Akasa Air provide the 737 type rating? For experienced First Officers, Akasa’s page asks for no 737 rating; freshers must already hold a valid B737 type rating. SkyCadet ends with a Boeing 737 MAX type rating. We found nothing from Akasa on who pays for the rating or whether a training bond applies.

Does Akasa Air hire direct entry Captains? Not that we could find. At the last check, on 17 October 2026, Akasa’s pilot page showed no Captain track, in its April 2026 archived copy and in search results, and Akasa has promoted its own First Officers to Captain since September 2023, when it made its first internal upgrades. In March 2026 Business Standard reported a retention plan worth Rs 25 lakh for Captains and trainee Captains, paid in three installments from August 2027.

What is the Akasa SkyCadet Programme? Akasa’s ab-initio route, launched on 11 June 2026 with Skynex Aero in Jalgaon and Dunes Aviation Academy in Bhavnagar: ground school, CPL flight training and a Boeing 737 MAX type rating. As its page states, it is for Indian citizens aged at least 18 when they apply and no more than 40 at enrollment, with 10+2 in physics, mathematics and English. At the last check, on 17 October 2026, the page said applications were closed and did not publish the fee.