A two base academy in Gujarat and Rajasthan with the most itemised fee sheet in this directory, two totals on the same page, and a stated validity of one month.
Dunes Aviation Academy flies from Bhavnagar in Gujarat and Bhilwara in Rajasthan, and its published fee sheet is the most detailed document any school in phase 2 put in front of us. It also carries two different totals, and which one you quote changes the number by a meaningful amount, so it is worth being precise about the difference.
The component table totals one figure for the ground school and flying course. The payment schedule immediately below it totals a higher figure, because it folds in the flying kit and the refundable caution money. The schedule total is what a student actually transfers, so that is the headline here, and the component total is quoted in the source's own words in the table below.
The registration and documentation line is unusually broad and worth reading twice: the academy says it covers the student licence, the radio licence, the instrument rating and licence documentation, the regulator's examiner fees, night flying charges, navigation facility charges and outstation landing at partner airports. Very few schools in this directory fold that many regulatory items into a course fee.
The regulator prints approval 01/2024 against this organisation, records its ownership as Trust, and gives the approval as valid to 4 January 2029.
The DGCA list records 13 single engine and 1 multi engine, types Cessna 172, Piper PA-28, Piper PA-28-181 (Archer 3) and Diamond DA-42. The school's fleet menu names three types, Cessna 172, Piper Archer DX and Diamond DA42, and prints no counts, so there is no number to compare. The Piper Archer DX naming is the same PA-28-181 family the regulator lists.
| What | Our source records |
|---|---|
| Registered name | Dunes Aviation Academy (A unit of Ganpat Care Foundation) |
| Bases | Bhavnagar, Gujarat and Bhilwara, Rajasthan |
| Aircraft | 13 single engine and 1 multi engine aircraft on the regulator's list, being Cessna 172, Piper PA-28, Piper PA-28-181 (Archer 3), Diamond DA-42 |
| Courses | Commercial Pilot License (CPL). Private Pilot License (PPL). Akasa SkyCadet Pilot Program. AFIR / FIR. Simulator training. License conversion. License renewal. BBA in Aviation Management |
| Figures checked | 8 September 2026 |
DGCA ranking, 1 April 2026 edition: Category B, printed at serial 11. It was Category C in the 30 September 2025 edition, so this is a move in the regulator's own letters between the two.
The regulator publishes a letter and a serial number and no score at all, so there is nothing behind the letter to inspect and nothing here to rank schools against each other by. The bands the letters come from, and how many organisations sit in each on this edition, are set out on the flying schools in India index.
| What you pay for | Amount | What the figure is |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial pilot licence course, the school's own published total | ₹64,90,000Published | As the source prints it: Integrated Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL), April 2026. Ab initio (ground class and flying): ground school Rs 3,00,000, registration fees and documentation Rs 3,00,000, single engine 185 hours Rs 49,02,500, multi engine 15 hours Rs 8,02,500, simulator 10 hrs on SE Rs 35,000, simulator 10 hrs on ME Rs 50,000, TOTAL Rs 63,90,000; plus flying kit Rs 50,000 and refundable caution money Rs 50,000. Payment schedule total Rs 64,90,000. Only flying: components total Rs 60,90,000 and payment schedule total Rs 61,90,000. |
| CPL, flying only, no ground school (payment schedule total) | ₹61,90,000Published | Charged separately from the course total. |
| Registration and commitment amount, neither refunded nor adjusted | ₹3,00,000Published | Charged separately from the course total. |
| Flying kit | ₹50,000Published | Charged separately from the course total. |
| Caution money, refundable | ₹50,000Published | Charged separately from the course total. |
| Documentation for candidates who already hold SPL and FRTOL | ₹2,50,000Published | Charged separately from the course total. |
| Additional single engine aircraft endorsement | ₹1,00,000Published | Charged separately from the course total. |
Every figure above: read from the academy's own commercial licence fee structure and refund policy PDF, checked 8 September 2026.
| How far to trust it | What the source says |
|---|---|
| Published, and inside the figure | Ground school for the DGCA papers, registration and documentation, 185 hours single engine, 15 hours multi engine on the Diamond DA42, 10 hours single engine and 10 hours multi engine simulator, a flying kit and refundable caution money. |
| Published, and inside the figure | The registration and documentation line explicitly covers SPL, FRTOL(R), IR, CPL and aircraft endorsement documentation, DGCA examiner fees, flight logger charges, night flying charges, RNFC, outstation landing and parking at AAI or partner airports, and English Language Proficiency fees. |
| Published, and outside the figure | The sheet states that anything not explicitly mentioned is excluded, and names medical examination fees, CPL issuance fees, watch extension charges at alternate airports, landing and parking charges at non-AAI airports, charges at other airports for flying beyond the curriculum other than the 250NM check and the 300NM solo, hostel accommodation and other incidental costs. |
| Published, and outside the figure | An additional single engine aircraft endorsement costs Rs 1,00,000. Fees are non-refundable once deposited. |
| Published, and outside the figure | The sheet is valid for the current month only and rates may move with fuel prices and the USD exchange rate. |
The CPL page requires at least 16 years of age at joining, a valid DGCA Class 2 medical, 10+2 or equivalent with Physics and Mathematics, and ICAO Level 4 English or higher. The fee sheet adds that registration is confirmed within three days of selection, which implies a selection step, but no entrance test, interview or batch intake schedule is published. Payment then runs in four instalments tied to 40, 90 and 140 flying hours or three-month gaps, whichever is earlier.
Ground classes are conducted at the academy's Ahmedabad facility (C-1101, Titanium Square, S.G. Highway, Thaltej, Ahmedabad 380054), which the DGCA list does not carry. Corporate office at 703, The Umed Heights, Light Industrial Area, Cazri Road, Jodhpur 342003. Residential complexes at Bhavnagar and Bhilwara. The two flying bases named on the site, Bhavnagar and Bhilwara, match the DGCA list.
Hostel accommodation is excluded by name and the academy publishes no rate for it, despite running residential complexes at both flying bases.
The sheet says rates may move with fuel prices and the dollar exchange rate and gives no mechanism for how much, so the published figure is a starting point rather than a ceiling.
Nothing above is the whole cost of becoming a pilot. Our pilot training cost in India page has the full stack from the medicals to the type rating, and CPL course fees in India puts this school's licence figure next to the rest of the market.
The payment schedule total, because it is what leaves your account. The component table under it totals less because the flying kit and the refundable caution money sit outside it. Both figures are quoted on this page in the sheet's own words so you can see the difference rather than take our word for it.
Yes, for candidates who do not need the ground school. The sheet prices a flying only route separately, and it is in the table on this page with its own label. It buys you less, which is the point of it.
The academy runs two flying bases, one in Gujarat and one in Rajasthan, both of which the regulator's list confirms. Ground classes happen at an Ahmedabad facility that is not a flying base and does not appear on the regulator's list.