Type Rating After CPL — What It Is, Cost, and How to Get Placed in 2026
Your Commercial Pilot License has been issued. Your DGCA medical is current. You are legally qualified to fly commercially. And yet, every airline recruiter asks the same question: which aircraft type rating do you hold? This moment reveals what many new CPL holders discover too late — the Type Rating is the final, significant step between CPL completion and the first airline salary. It is aircraft-specific certification, and without it, no Indian commercial airline will place you in their cockpit. Understanding what it involves, what it costs in 2026, how to fund it strategically, and how to position yourself for airline employment immediately after is one of the most important post-CPL career decisions a pilot makes.
At Aviate Aero Academy in Hyderabad, post-CPL career guidance is a core part of our service. The guidance does not stop when your license is issued — it transitions into a different, equally consequential phase.
What a Type Rating Is and What It Involves
A CPL qualifies you to fly commercially in general. A Type Rating specifies exactly which aircraft model you are authorised to operate as a commercial crew member. An Airbus A320 Type Rating and a Boeing 737 Type Rating are entirely separate certifications with no overlap. You cannot fly IndiGo’s A320 fleet without holding an A320 Type Rating — this is a legal requirement, not a preference.
Type Rating training consists of four structured components:
- Aircraft-specific ground school: Three to four weeks covering the aircraft’s systems, performance data, limitations, emergency procedures, and applicable operating regulations in detail
- Full Flight Simulator sessions: Level D simulator — the highest fidelity simulation available, legally equivalent to actual aircraft for certification purposes
- Multi-Crew Cooperation training: Structured training in coordinated two-person flight deck operations — communication, crew resource management, and shared decision-making
- Final skill test: Conducted by a DGCA-designated examiner or airline check captain in the full flight simulator, assessing all required competencies
Which Type Rating Is Most Valuable in India — 2026
Airbus A320 Family (A319, A320neo, A321neo)
The single most commercially valuable type rating in India. Required by IndiGo — India’s largest fleet of 350-plus aircraft — Air India Express, Akasa Air, and GoAir. For students whose primary career goal is Indian airline employment, the A320 family type rating is the clear, data-backed choice in 2026.
Boeing 737 (737-800 and 737 MAX 8)
Required for SpiceJet operations. Growing relevance as Air India expands and diversifies its narrow-body fleet in 2026 and beyond.
ATR 72-500 and ATR 72-600
Required for regional operations with Alliance Air, TruJet, and FlyBig. Lower cost at INR 10 to 15 lakhs and an excellent entry point for building early career flying hours in regional aviation.
Wide-body Ratings (A330, B777, B787)
Required for Air India long-haul routes. Cost of INR 45 to 80 lakhs means self-funding is not a viable option in most cases — these ratings are almost always airline-funded through direct hire programmes.
Type Rating Costs in India — 2026
- Airbus A320 family Type Rating: INR 20 to 35 lakhs at authorised type rating centres
- Boeing 737 Type Rating: INR 22 to 35 lakhs
- ATR 72 Type Rating: INR 10 to 15 lakhs — most accessible entry point
- Wide-body ratings: INR 45 to 80 lakhs — practically always airline-funded
Three Funding Routes — Assessed Honestly
Self-Funded Type Rating
The pilot funds Type Rating independently before applying to airlines. Advantage: a stronger, more competitive application — most carriers give strong preference to rated candidates and some only consider rated applicants. Disadvantage: INR 20 to 35 lakhs on top of INR 50 to 80 lakhs already spent on CPL. This route requires financial planning from the very start of training — not a post-CPL decision.
Airline Cadet Programme Sponsorship
IndiGo, Air India, and Akasa Air include Type Rating in their cadet programmes. In exchange, candidates sign service bonds — typically three to five years of mandatory airline service. The financial benefit is significant. The trade-off is the bond commitment and the competitive selection rate of one to three percent. For candidates who are selected, this is consistently the most financially sound route.
Education Loan Extension to Include Type Rating
HDFC Credila and SBI can in some cases extend loan coverage to include Type Rating when it is formally documented in the original loan agreement and the type rating centre is specified as a recognised institution. This must be structured during initial loan planning — it typically cannot be added after training has already begun.
For loan planning guidance that can include Type Rating costs, visit the Aviate Aero Academy Contact page for a free financial session.
Type Rating Centres in India
- CAE Training Centre, Gurugram: A320 family and Boeing 737 Level D simulators — one of India’s most established and most used centres
- IndiGo Captain Training Centre, Gurugram: A320 family primarily for IndiGo cadet programme graduates
- FlightSim Centre, Bengaluru: A320 and ATR — DGCA-approved with growing student completion track record
- Air India Training Centre: A320 family and wide-body type ratings for Air India direct hire and cadet candidates
Airline Placement — After Type Rating
A Type Rating makes you employable — it does not guarantee employment. Indian airline hiring involves application submission, written technical assessments, Pilot Aptitude Battery testing, simulator evaluations, medical revalidation, and HR interviews. Preparation for these stages is a deliberate process that takes time.
The pilots who transition most efficiently from CPL to airline seat are those who began preparing for airline selection processes during their CPL training — not after receiving their license. Understanding what each airline’s simulator assessment covers, knowing how to present your aviation background clearly, and having practiced the specific technical questions airline HR panels ask are skills developed over months of preparation, not weeks.
The Career Planning That Should Begin Before CPL
Most students who contact Aviate Aero Academy after completing their CPL elsewhere wish they had structured their Type Rating and airline placement plan from the beginning of their training journey. The ones who planned it in advance — who knew their target airline, had a clear Type Rating funding strategy, and were preparing for airline selection during their flying training — transition from CPL to First Officer salary significantly faster than those who treated the post-CPL phase as a problem to solve later.
At Aviate Aero Academy in Hyderabad, our counselling covers the complete career arc — from first eligibility assessment through to first airline salary. For students approaching CPL completion or who have already obtained their license and are now planning their Type Rating and airline strategy, our post-CPL guidance is available — and the first session is always free, regardless of whether you trained with us initially.
