Skyborne Airline Academy has signed its largest group of IndiGo cadets since the two began working together in 2019. Forty-eight aspiring pilots have signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) to train on the IndiGo Cadet Pilot Programme, at an event held at Hotel Fortune Select Global in Gurgaon, India. Skyborne announced the intake on 22 October12.

Delhi, Florida, then back to India

The cadets start at Skyborne's new ground school in Delhi before moving to the academy's purpose-built 12-acre campus in Vero Beach, Florida, for 12 months of flight training. They then return to India for licence conversion and type rating training. Cadets who complete every stage join IndiGo as A320 Junior First Officers1.

Skyborne's programme page breaks the pathway into four stages: three months of DGCA ground school in India, 12 months to a US FAA commercial pilot licence with a single-engine instrument rating (CPL SEIR), two months of DGCA licence conversion, and three months for a combined multi-crew cooperation (MCC) course and A320 type rating. Graduates hold both FAA and DGCA licences. Flight training is on Piper aircraft and Redbird simulators, with a fleet of more than 60 aircraft and more than 350 flying days a year in Florida, according to the academy3.

A record that keeps moving

The previous record was set only a year ago, when 41 cadets signed their LoIs at a ceremony in Gurgaon in October 2025. Almost 20% of that group were women4. In the new intake the share of women has risen to 27%. "With another record intake, of which 27% are women, we are also proud to continue raising the benchmark for diversity within the flight deck, while supporting IndiGo to meet rising workforce demand", said Rina Basu, Regional Director (Asia Pacific) at Skyborne1.

CEO Lee Woodward said more than 130 cadets have now trained with Skyborne and joined IndiGo, and Skyborne says more than 360 cadets have enrolled to date1. US training for IndiGo cadets at Skyborne began in August 20195.

Why IndiGo needs so many pilots

"With the country's commercial fleet projected to triple by 2035, now is an important time to pursue an airline career", Woodward said1. The figure comes from an Airbus forecast published in January, which expects India's commercial fleet to reach 2,250 aircraft by 2035 and the country's pilot requirement to rise from about 12,000 today to 35,0006. IndiGo itself placed a firm order for 500 A320 Family aircraft in June 2023, which Airbus called the biggest single purchase agreement in commercial aviation history. It took IndiGo's total Airbus order book at the time to 1,330 aircraft7.

Entry requirements, selection and cost

Applicants must be 18 to 40 years old on the first day of selection and hold a 10+2 qualification with at least 51% in physics, mathematics and English. Before flight training they need both a DGCA Class 1 and a US FAA Class 1 medical, must be able to obtain a US M1 student visa, and need English at a level equivalent to at least IELTS 5.53.

Selection has three eliminatory stages. Skyborne runs a face-to-face assessment in Delhi with aptitude tests, an English test and a personality questionnaire on the Symbiotics platform. IndiGo then runs a group discussion and a personal interview. Candidates who clear all three receive the LoI from IndiGo. The assessment fee is GBP 250. The programme costs USD 132,000, paid in five instalments of USD 26,400, plus fees for the mandatory three months of ground school in Delhi3. Cadets take up their Junior First Officer positions once they have completed training and met the regulatory and airline requirements8.

What this means for aspiring pilots worldwide

The IndiGo programme is built for candidates from India, but the model behind it is common across the industry: the airline selects at the start and a partner academy delivers the training. Skyborne runs the same kind of pathway in Europe. Since July 2025 it has trained cadets in the UK for Ryanair's Future Flyer Academy, where trainees receive a conditional job offer on enrolment, complete an integrated ATPL and gain both a UK CAA and an EASA licence9. The academy also trains for programmes with easyJet, British Airways and Jet2.com2, and has UK bases at Gloucestershire Airport and, since February 2025, Bournemouth Airport10.

For cadet schemes like these, the decisive moment is selection. You can read how the IndiGo Cadet Pilot Programme selection works phase by phase and practise for it with our IndiGo cadet practice set. Other airline selections to prepare for include Ryanair, easyJet and British Airways. See also what an IndiGo pilot earns, how modular and integrated training work and the school profiles for Skyborne in Vero Beach and Skyborne in the UK.