Pilot Jobs in India 2026: Air India, Akasa Air, IndiGo and the DGCA Route

Our jobs board tracks 3 airlines based in India, Air India (incl. Air India Express), Akasa Air and IndiGo. At the last check 3 of them had the First Officer seat open and 1 the Captain seat. All of them ask for a license issued by India’s regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), and a DGCA Class 1 medical, so a pilot trained abroad converts first. None of the 3 says it sponsors a visa; Air India asks for a nationality or a right to work you already hold, and the records of Akasa Air and IndiGo give no single rule. With only a few airlines to list, this page sets each one’s doors side by side, from cadet schemes to Captain, then the DGCA route every vacancy sits on: the CPL and the ATPL, the DGCA exams and the eGCA portal, the Class 1 medical and the conversion of a foreign license, and the traps in an Indian vacancy. How to get the license from zero is on the how to become an airline pilot in India page.

The Indian airlines (3)

Every Indian airline on our board, by its status at the last check: 3 recruiting for at least one seat. The license and right-to-work columns are each record’s own summary; the hours are the published minimums, in the airline’s own measure.

Who is hiring, seat by seat

First Officer seat open at the last check: Air India (incl. Air India Express), Akasa Air and IndiGo. Captain seat open: Air India (incl. Air India Express). Each Indian airline as its record sums it up, with the date of the check:

• Air India (incl. Air India Express) F/O: Recruiting Capt: Recruiting
  At the last check, on 15 October 2026, Air India’s own portal listed four type-rated pilot postings, all for Air India Express and with no closing date: A320 and B737 First Officers and Senior First Officers, A320 Captains, and B737 type-rated and non-type-rated (transition) Captains. Its Trainee Pilot Programme had no window open, and its 2026 cadet posting showed as filled (the window closed on 15 September 2026). (checked 15 October 2026) — careers page
• Akasa Air F/O: Recruiting Capt: Unconfirmed
  At the last check, on 17 October 2026, Akasa Air’s “Hiring Pilots” page, in the copy the Internet Archive saved on 18 April 2026 and as search results still showed it, listed experienced First Officers with at least 500 hours of jet or turboprop flying and B737 type-rated freshers, for whom a valid B737 type rating is mandatory, with no closing date and no Captain track; the live page refused our requests, so whether both routes are open now could not be confirmed. Its SkyCadet page, as search results showed it, said applications were closed, and the program’s first cadets began training in September 2026 (afm.aero). Akasa resumed pilot hiring in December 2025, after pausing it in June 2024 when Boeing’s deliveries ran late (CAPA). (checked 17 October 2026) — careers page
• IndiGo F/O: Recruiting Capt: Unconfirmed
  At the last check, on 14 October 2026, IndiGo’s Flight Operations careers page listed cadet, type-rated, non-type-rated and expatriate pilot tracks, and its partner academies’ IndiGo program pages were live, as seen in search results (Skyborne reported a new IndiGo cadet class starting training in February 2026); we found no dated 2026 vacancy notice on IndiGo’s page, so confirm a current opening there before you apply. (checked 14 October 2026) — careers page

The doors, from cadet to Captain

The Indian airlines run their own doors at each stage of a career, and most ask for something particular: an endorsement already on the DGCA license, hours flown after line release, an age limit. Each door as its record words it, with the date of the check; the records of Akasa Air and IndiGo were last checked in search results or archived copies of the airlines’ pages, not on their live pages:

• Cadet schemes, from no experience. IndiGo’s Cadet Pilot Program names six partner academies, and its How to become a Pilot page asks for an age of 18 to 32 and 10+2 with physics and mathematics and allows at most two attempts at each selection stage (checked 14 October 2026); Air India’s 2026 Cadet Pilot Program window, 27 August to 15 September 2026 as search results showed it, is closed and its posting filled (checked 15 October 2026); Akasa Air’s SkyCadet Programme, for Indian citizens aged 18 to 40 with 10+2 in physics, mathematics and English, trains to a CPL and a 737 MAX type rating with Skynex Aero and Dunes Aviation Academy, and was closed to applications (checked 17 October 2026).
• With a fresh CPL. Air India’s Trainee Pilot Programme takes DGCA CPL holders, for the A320 with an A320 endorsement and for the 737 with a B737 endorsement or a multi-engine and instrument rating, up to the age of 30 (40 for employees and former defense pilots), for Indian nationals or OCI holders; it had no window open (checked 15 October 2026); IndiGo’s last Junior First Officer round we could date, in September 2024 as afm.aero reported it, took DGCA CPL holders with a multi-engine instrument rating and 25 hours multi-engine, aged 18 to 40, Indian nationals or OCI cardholders, with a written test and no A320 rating; whether it runs one in 2026, and how the rating’s cost is shared on that route, are among the points we could not confirm (checked 14 October 2026); Akasa Air’s “freshers” door needs a valid B737 type rating already held (checked 17 October 2026).
• Type-rated First Officers. Air India’s portal listed A320 First Officers and Senior First Officers for Air India Express with 500 hours on the A320 family after line release, and B737 ones with 100 hours of airline experience on the 737 after line release, both up to the age of 40 (45 for defense pilots with the rating and an ATPL) (checked 15 October 2026); IndiGo’s criteria for line-released A320 First Officers ask for a DGCA CPL with an A320 endorsement and at least 200 hours after line release, up to the age of 45 (checked 14 October 2026).
• Experienced First Officers without the type rating. Akasa Air’s pilot page lists experienced First Officers from 500 hours of jet or turboprop flying, with no type rating asked (checked 17 October 2026); IndiGo’s non-type-rated A320 Senior First Officer postings of October 2024 asked for a DGCA ATPL and 1,500 hours (checked 14 October 2026).
• Captains. Air India Express’s rated A320 and B737 Captains need 100 hours in command on the type family, up to the age of 62, and its non-rated 737 Transition Captains 3,000 hours, with 1,000 of airline jet time and 500 in command above 5,700 kg or 1,500 of airline turboprop time and 500 in command above 10,000 kg, up to 60 (checked 15 October 2026); IndiGo’s Captain minimums are among the points we could not confirm, as search summaries of its page give different hours and ages (checked 14 October 2026); Akasa Air lists no Captain track and has promoted its own First Officers since September 2023 (checked 17 October 2026).

The lowest non-rated entry. Each airline’s lowest published First Officer entry for a pilot without a type rating, lowest first:

1. 200 hours at IndiGo, the hours a DGCA CPL itself needs, on its Junior First Officer round of September 2024, which asked for a CPL with a multi-engine instrument rating and 25 hours on multi-engine aircraft, no more than 10 in a simulator, and no A320 rating; whether IndiGo runs such a round in 2026 is among the points we could not confirm (checked 14 October 2026)
2. 500 hours at Akasa Air, of jet or turboprop flying for its experienced First Officers, for whom its pilot page asks no type rating; its “freshers” need a valid B737 type rating (checked 17 October 2026)

Air India publishes no First Officer entry figure for pilots without a type rating that we could count: its First Officer postings want the type rating held, and it takes DGCA CPL holders through its Trainee Pilot Programme instead.

The cadet routes, worded as recorded, with their intake at the last check:

• Air India (incl. Air India Express) Intake: Closed at last check
  Cadet Pilot Programme — Air India Pilot Career Program (DGCA CPL to A320 rating); the 2026 window, 27 August to 15 September 2026 as search results showed it, is closed and the posting has been filled: screening, an online assessment of cognitive and behavioral skills, then a personal interview (checked 15 October 2026)
• Akasa Air Intake: Closed at last check
  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) (checked 17 October 2026)
• IndiGo Intake: Not stated
  IndiGo Cadet Pilot Programme — six partner academies, CPL plus A320 rating (checked 14 October 2026)

Who pays on each airline scheme is compared on the cadet programs page, and the doors at 500 hours or less, in India and beyond, are on the low-hour pilot jobs page.

The DGCA route behind every vacancy

Every vacancy above sits on an Indian license, and the airlines name its parts: Air India asks its First Officers for a DGCA CPL or ATPL with a current instrument rating and proficiency check and a valid A320 or B737 co-pilot endorsement, its Captains for a DGCA ATPL with the PIC endorsement, and both for the FRTOL, the RTR and an eGCA ID (checked 15 October 2026); IndiGo asks for a DGCA CPL with the instrument rating and the radio license for its Junior and type-rated First Officers, and a DGCA ATPL for its non-rated Senior First Officers and Captains (checked 14 October 2026); Akasa Air asks that your licenses and DGCA medical be valid on the date of joining (checked 17 October 2026). This is what each part is, from DGCA’s own documents as we read them on its document store and its Pariksha exam portal on 25 October 2026, unless a line says otherwise.

• The CPL. DGCA issues the commercial pilot license through its eGCA portal. Its eGCA guide to the CPL application lists what you need before you apply: registration on eGCA with your own eGCA ID; a valid Class 1 medical certificate and medical assessment sheet; a valid FRTOL or FRTOL(R), the radiotelephony license, and the RTR certificate; your electronic logbook, validated by your flying training organization (FTO) for the flying hours and skill tests; English language proficiency at Level 4 or above; and the written exams. The flying experience is the one Section J of the Aircraft Rules, 1937 sets, as the guide says; our India guide sets it out hour by hour. You apply and pay the fee on eGCA, through the government’s Bharatkosh payment portal, and track the application there. DGCA listed 41 approved FTOs on 3 October 2026.
• The DGCA exams. The written papers are DGCA’s own, set by its Central Examination Organization (CEO). For the CPL the eGCA guide lists Air Regulations, Air Navigation, Aircraft and Engines in two papers, Technical General and Technical Specific, Aviation Meteorology and, where it applies, Performance. You register and apply for them on DGCA’s Pariksha portal, which runs regular sessions and online on-demand ones (OLODE): on 25 October 2026 its flight crew applications were open for OLODE session 08 of 2026, until 2 November, and regular session 04 of 2026, until 15 November, and its pilots’ notice board carried the admit cards for the ATPL oral examination of regular session 03 (the portal and its flight crew user manual). v1prep’s ATPL theory banks follow the EASA syllabus, not DGCA’s papers: they cover the same meteorology, navigation and systems, but not India’s air law.
• The ATPL. The CPL becomes an airline transport pilot license with the ATPL papers and the flying experience the Aircraft Rules, 1937 set for it; ICAO’s floor is 1,500 hours of flight time as a pilot of airplanes (Annex 1, 2.6.3.1.1), and IndiGo’s non-rated Senior First Officers and Captains and Air India’s Captains need it held. To sit the ATPL papers, DGCA’s Pariksha manual asks for proof of an Indian CPL, or, from a defense pilot, 500 hours of flying with 200 in command. The portal also announced, in search results on 25 October 2026, an automatic profile update from the CPL to the ATPL category for flight crew candidates from 2 February 2026.
• The type endorsement. An aircraft type counts on an Indian license once it is endorsed on it: Air India’s type-rated postings ask for “a valid A320 or B737 co-pilot endorsement”; IndiGo’s line-released First Officers for a DGCA CPL with an A320 endorsement. DGCA’s eGCA guide to renewing a CPL shows what a renewal through an extension to an airplane above 5,700 kg asks for: a written exam, at an approved training organization or at DGCA’s CEO, where only an aircraft whose Technical Specific paper you have passed can be chosen, and the details and documents of your jet induction training and ground training; to sit that Technical Specific paper with DGCA, the Pariksha manual asks for a certificate of the type’s ground training at a DGCA-approved institute. Renewing an expired CPL may itself need the exams that Rule 42 of the Aircraft Rules, 1937 requires, by the same guide.
• The Class 1 medical. DGCA’s list of Class 1 centers, updated 27 August 2026, says the initial Class 1 is for a person who already holds a valid Class 2 and is done at 13 centers, three Indian Air Force boarding centers and ten DGCA-approved civil aeromedical centers; renewals are done at 18 Air Force centers and by 55 DGCA-empaneled examiners, from 45 days before the expiry date. Quoting paragraph 5 of CAR Section 7, Series C, Part I (Revision 7, 1 October 2025), it gives the validity as one year for a pilot under 60 in multi-crew commercial air transport and six months for one over 40 in single-crew commercial air transport or on instructional duties. A Class 1 more than two years old means a “re-initial” examination at an Air Force boarding center or an empaneled civil hospital, with a no-objection certificate from DGCA’s medical directorate applied for on eGCA.
• A foreign license. DGCA’s Pariksha manual (Issue III, October 2024) has an exam application category of its own for the conversion of a CPL or ATPL issued by a foreign authority, with a self-attested copy of the valid license, issued by an ICAO Contracting State, and asks foreign nationals and OCI holders for a security clearance before they can register. The Ministry of Civil Aviation told the Lok Sabha that pilots trained abroad apply in India for the conversion of their foreign license, pass DGCA’s theory exams and take a skill test in India, under Rule 41 of the Aircraft Rules, 1937, with flying experience that meets Schedule II for the license (its answer, dated 2024, in search results on 25 October 2026). The detail is in CAR Section 7, Series G, Part I, which our India guide summarizes, with DGCA’s temporary authorization of foreign pilots (FATA); FATA candidates sit exams of their own on the Pariksha portal, with DGCA’s FATA authorization letter and their sponsoring organization’s recommendation (the same manual). Read the CAR’s current issue on DGCA’s site for your case. IndiGo’s careers page lists an Expat Pilots track, but whether any expatriate Captain stream is open is among the points we could not confirm (checked 14 October 2026).

How to read an Indian pilot vacancy

• The endorsement, not just the rating. A “type-rated” posting in India means the type endorsed on your DGCA license; a rating from abroad has to be brought onto the Indian license, through the conversion and the endorsement steps above, before it counts.
• Hours after line release. The type-rated minimums of Air India and IndiGo count hours flown after line release, as a line pilot rather than in training, so a pilot fresh from a type rating course has none of them yet; read the posting’s own measure before you total your logbook.
• Age limits. Indian airlines publish them: Air India caps its type-rated First Officers at 40, its rated Captains at 62, its non-rated 737 Captains at 60 and its trainees at 30 (checked 15 October 2026); IndiGo its cadets at 18 to 32, its Junior First Officer round of 2024 at 18 to 40 and its type-rated First Officers at 45 (checked 14 October 2026); Akasa Air’s SkyCadet at 18 to 40 (checked 17 October 2026). Check yours against the posting before you pay for a type rating aimed at it.
• The right to work is yours to bring. None of the 3 airlines here says it sponsors a visa. Air India asks for Indian nationals or Overseas Citizens of India on its type-rated and trainee routes (checked 15 October 2026); IndiGo’s cadet routes are for Indian citizens and OCI holders (checked 14 October 2026); Akasa Air’s SkyCadet is for Indian citizens only, and its page states no nationality rule for licensed pilots, which only a job-board profile gives, as the legal right to live and work in India (checked 17 October 2026). The airlines that do sponsor are on the visa sponsorship page.
• Who pays for the rating. Among the points we could not confirm: how IndiGo shares the rating’s cost on its Junior First Officer route; who pays for the 737 rating of a pilot who joins Akasa Air without one, and whether a bond applies; the SkyCadet fee and the terms after training, which Akasa Air does not publish. Ask, in writing, who pays, whether a bond applies and whether a job follows, before you sign or pay.
• Fees and fakes. Akasa Air charges no recruitment fees, and in December 2025 the Delhi High Court ordered websites, phone numbers and accounts impersonating it in a job scam blocked (checked 17 October 2026). An airline that asks you to pay to be interviewed is the warning sign: apply only through the links on the airline’s own site.
• Postings open and close. At the last checks: Air India’s four type-rated postings, all for Air India Express, showed no closing date (checked 15 October 2026); IndiGo’s page carried no dated 2026 vacancy notice we could find (checked 14 October 2026); Akasa Air’s live page refused our requests, so whether both its First Officer doors are open now is among the points we could not confirm (checked 17 October 2026). A published minimum is not an open vacancy: apply on the airline’s own careers site.
• The selection. Air India names a psychometric assessment, a personal interview, a simulator flight proficiency test and a pre-employment medical (checked 15 October 2026); Akasa Air a personal interview, a psychological assessment and drug test, a simulator evaluation and a session with its pilot recruitment team (checked 17 October 2026); IndiGo publishes no stages for licensed pilots beyond the written test of its 2024 round, and the stages preparation guides list are among the points we could not confirm (checked 14 October 2026).

The other airlines of the region, from Singapore to Japan, are on the Asia-Pacific jobs page.

For the selection, the interview guides for Air India and IndiGo, the complete interview guide, and the Library’s airline pilot recruitment and selection and airline simulator assessment articles.

Common questions

Which Indian airlines are hiring pilots? At the last check the First Officer seat was open at Air India, Akasa Air and IndiGo and the Captain seat at Air India. The tables on this page give the date each airline was checked. Confirm the vacancy on the airline’s own careers site before applying.

Can I get an airline job in India with a fresh CPL? Through a few doors, each with its own conditions: Air India’s Trainee Pilot Programme takes DGCA CPL holders, for the A320 with an A320 endorsement and for the 737 with a B737 endorsement or a multi-engine and instrument rating, up to the age of 30 (40 for employees and former defense pilots), for Indian nationals or OCI holders; it had no window open; IndiGo’s last Junior First Officer round we could date, in September 2024 as afm.aero reported it, took DGCA CPL holders with a multi-engine instrument rating and 25 hours multi-engine, aged 18 to 40, Indian nationals or OCI cardholders, with a written test and no A320 rating; whether it runs one in 2026, and how the rating’s cost is shared on that route, are among the points we could not confirm; Akasa Air’s “freshers” door needs a valid B737 type rating already held. Cadet schemes take you from no experience instead, and the DGCA CPL itself needs a valid Class 1, the DGCA papers, the radio license and English at Level 4 or above.

Do Indian airlines hire foreign pilots? Not as a rule on our board: none of the 3 airlines here says it sponsors a visa; Air India asks for Indian nationals or Overseas Citizens of India on its type-rated and trainee routes; IndiGo’s cadet routes are for Indian citizens and OCI holders; Akasa Air’s SkyCadet is for Indian citizens only, and its page states no nationality rule for licensed pilots, which only a job-board profile gives, as the legal right to live and work in India. IndiGo’s careers page lists an Expat Pilots track, but whether any expatriate Captain stream is open is among the points we could not confirm. A foreign license has to be converted to a DGCA one first: DGCA’s exam portal has a category of its own for it, and the Ministry of Civil Aviation’s answer in the Lok Sabha, dated 2024 in search results, says it takes DGCA’s theory exams and a skill test in India.

How do I convert a foreign pilot license to a DGCA license? Apply to DGCA for the conversion. DGCA’s Pariksha exam portal has an application category for converting a CPL or ATPL issued by a foreign authority, with a copy of your valid license from an ICAO Contracting State, and asks foreign nationals and OCI holders for a security clearance before they register (its user manual, October 2024). The Ministry of Civil Aviation’s answer in the Lok Sabha, dated 2024 in search results, says pilots trained abroad pass DGCA’s theory exams and take a skill test in India, under Rule 41 of the Aircraft Rules, 1937, with experience that meets Schedule II. You also need a DGCA Class 1 and, to fly an airliner, its type endorsed on the Indian license. The rules are in CAR Section 7, Series G, Part I.

How long is a DGCA Class 1 medical valid? One year for a pilot under 60 in multi-crew commercial air transport, and six months for one over 40 in single-crew commercial air transport or on instructional duties, as DGCA’s list of Class 1 centers (27 August 2026) quotes CAR Section 7, Series C, Part I. You can renew it from 45 days before it expires; the first Class 1 is done at one of 13 centers, by a pilot who already holds a Class 2.