Nine steps, in the order you actually do them, with what each one takes and what each one costs. The cheap steps come first on purpose: they are the ones that tell you whether the expensive ones are worth starting.
This is the whole route from where you are now to an airline seat, in the order you actually do it, with how long each step takes and what each one costs.
| Step | How long | What it costs |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Check you are eligible, then get a Class 2 medical | A few weeks | ₹3,000 to ₹8,000Reported |
| 2. Pass the Class 1 medical | A few weeks | ₹5,000 to ₹12,000Reported |
| 3. Get your DGCA Computer Number | Days to weeks | FreePublished |
| 4. Clear the DGCA theory papers | Six months to two years | ₹2,500 per paperPublished |
| 5. Fly your hours to a commercial licence | Eighteen to twenty-four months | ₹45 lakh to ₹55 lakhReported |
| 6. Pass the RTR(A) radio telephony test | Weeks | ₹500 to ₹550Published |
| 7. Get the licence issued | Weeks to months | Not publishedon any open page, checked 15 June 2026 |
| 8. Add a type rating | Weeks | ₹10 lakh to ₹35 lakhReported |
| 9. Get the first job | Varies | Not publishedon any open page, checked 15 June 2026 |
Physics and Mathematics at 10+2 and a medical you can pass are the two real gates. The Class 2 medical is the cheap one, so do it first: it tells you whether the expensive steps are worth starting.
The Class 1 is the licence-grade medical and the one that ends careers before they start. Do it before you pay any school a large sum, not after.
A free, lifetime identifier on the DGCA exam portal. You cannot book a single paper without it, and for some school boards it is now issued automatically once your records verify.
Five papers for a commercial licence: Air Navigation, Aviation Meteorology, Air Regulation, Technical General and Technical Specific. Four regular sessions a year plus frequent on-demand sittings, 70 percent to pass each one, and a pass stays valid for five years.
About 200 hours at a DGCA approved flying school, including instrument and multi-engine work. This is the long step and by far the expensive one, and it can run in parallel with the papers.
The radio licence, tested as a written part and a practical. It is a separate requirement from the five papers, and since the recent rule change it is run by DGCA rather than the communications ministry.
With the papers, the hours, the medical and the radio licence in hand, you apply for the commercial pilot licence itself through the licensing portal.
The qualification for the specific jet an airline flies. This is the last big cheque and the one that makes you employable on type.
Either you apply as a licensed pilot with a type rating, or you take the cadet route, which bundles everything above into one contract with selection at the front and a service commitment at the back.
Two steps out of nine hold almost the whole bill. The flying is ₹45 lakh to ₹55 lakhReported at an Indian flying school for the licence alone, and the type rating is ₹10 lakh to ₹35 lakhReported on top. Everything else on this page, the medicals and the papers and the radio licence together, adds up to a small fraction of either.
That is worth internalising before you pick a school, because a difference of one lakh in coaching fees is noise next to a difference of ten lakh in flying rates. The itemised breakdown is on our pilot training cost page, the school-by-school fees are on CPL course fees in India, and the rating is on type rating cost in India.
A cadet programme collapses steps four through eight into one contract with an airline seat at the end. It is the straighter line and the less flexible one, and the four Indian programmes differ enormously in what they publish about their own price. The hub is cadet pilot programmes in India, and the four programme pages are IndiGo, Air India, Akasa and SpiceJet, with all four side by side on costs compared.
The exam half of the route, free and with no account:
And the cost half, itemised and sourced:
Two to three years is the realistic span from the first medical to a licence, and the flying is what sets the pace. The theory papers can run alongside it, and the type rating adds weeks rather than months at the end.
The licence alone clusters at 45 to 55 lakh at an Indian flying school (Reported), and the type rating adds 10 to 35 lakh (Reported). A cadet programme bundles both from 89.5 lakh upward (Published). Every one of those carries its label on our cost pages, because most are bands rather than published prices.
Yes for the licence route in India. Candidates who did not take them at school commonly add them through an open-schooling board before applying. Confirm the current requirement with DGCA rather than with any comparison page, ours included.
Yes, and many people do. Clearing the theory first means your flying is not held up waiting on a paper, and it is the cheapest part of the whole route by an enormous margin.
It is the straighter line, because selection, the licence and the type rating are one contract and a seat is at the end of it. It is also the least flexible, and the bond terms are not published by any Indian airline.