Training costs

Type rating cost in India

One rate is published in this entire market, and it came through a cadet programme rather than a price list. Everything else you will read is a broker band. Here is the difference, and why it matters.

A type rating is the last big cheque before an airline seat, and the honest position is that almost nobody publishes what one costs.

What a type rating is, and when you need one

A commercial pilot licence lets you fly for hire. A type rating is the qualification for one specific aircraft type, and an airline flying A320s or 737s needs you rated on that type before you can occupy a seat on the line. It is ground school, simulator sessions and a skill test, and it takes weeks rather than months.

The order matters for your budget. The licence comes first and is the long, expensive part; the rating comes after and is the short, expensive part. A cadet programme bundles both into one contract, which is exactly why a cadet figure and a flying school figure are not comparable numbers.

How far you can trust each number on this page

Published
Printed on the operator's or the regulator's own page.
Reported
From a brochure, an aggregator or a cadet, not from the operator's own price list.
Estimated
A range built up from parts, not lifted whole from any one source.
Undisclosed
No public number exists. We say so rather than filling the gap.

The one rate anybody publishes

Type rating rates, and what kind of claim each one isThe published rate and the reported bands do not overlap neatly. That is a signal about the market, not an error to be averaged away.
WhatRateHow far it can be trusted
A320 rating inside a cadet programme, at a named providerabout ₹31 lakhPublishedPublished on the provider's own page, quoted in dollars plus tax and converted here. It is a cadet-channel rate, not an open list price.
A320 rating bought standalone from the same providerNot publishedby the provider, checked 15 June 2026The course structure is published. The price is not.
A320 rating on the open market₹12 lakh to ₹25 lakhReportedReported. A higher ceiling circulates as an outlier from third-party blogs.
B737 rating on the open market₹10 lakh to ₹20 lakhReportedReported, and generally a few lakh under the A320.

Checked 15 June 2026. The published rate was quoted in US dollars plus tax and converted at the exchange rate on 15 June 2026; it is reproduced as recorded and not recalculated at a live rate. The reported bands are broker and blog sourced in rupees.

Why the published rate and the open band disagree

Read them as two different products rather than two guesses at one. The published rate is what a cadet pays inside a programme, at a large provider, as part of a package that also bought the licence. The open band is what individual pilots are told when they ring around, and it is collected by people writing about the market rather than by the market itself.

So a rating quoted at the bottom of the open band is not necessarily a bargain, and the published rate is not necessarily an overcharge. What you can safely conclude is narrower and more useful: this is a five-figure-dollar purchase with no list price, so get a written quote that names the simulator hours, the ground school, the skill test and whether tax is on top.

What is not published

Standalone list prices from the actual providers are Not publishedby any Indian type rating provider, checked 15 June 2026. So is the tax on top of a quoted rate, which is Not publishedbeside any published rate, checked 15 June 2026. The line-training and base-training arrangements after the rating vary by airline and are not priced publicly either.

Common questions

How much does an A320 type rating cost in India?

The only published rate anywhere in the market is about 31 lakh, and it is the rate inside a cadet programme rather than an open list price. The open market band you will see quoted is roughly 12 to 25 lakh, and that band is Reported by brokers and blogs rather than published by any provider.

Why will nobody tell me the price?

The providers publish course structure and not price. A type rating is sold into a market of airlines, cadet programmes and individual pilots at different rates, so an open list price would fix a number the provider would rather negotiate.

Is a B737 rating cheaper than an A320?

Generally by a few lakh, on the reported bands. Both bands are Reported, so treat the gap as a tendency rather than a rule.

Do I need a type rating to get a job?

For an airline seat on a jet, yes, and that is the whole reason it matters. A commercial licence on its own leaves you licensed and unemployable on type, which is why a cadet programme that bundles the rating looks so much more expensive than a flying school that does not.