How to become an airline pilot?

Make your passion your profession

Would you like to become an airline pilot?
Astonﬂy offers you this opportunity with or without previous flight experience
We have training courses adapted to help you achieve your dream job

Seize this opportunity to become an airline pilot

With international flights starting up again, airlines are recruiting in great numbers and estimate their needs worldwide at over 32 000 new pilot hires per year until 2041

Source: Study carried out by Boeing Pilot Outlook 2022–2042

This unprecedented demand is explained by the natural growth of the world's air transport needs, but also by:

A great number of airline pilots worldwide leaving for retirement
The emergence of new airlines, mainly in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East,
The emergence of new markets such as the long-haul "low-cost" market,
The downturn in airline pilot training during the Covid-19 crisis, contributing to the current pilot shortage.

Sources: World Bank, ICAO, Ministry of the Economy and Finance, Les Echos

The permanent resilience of global air transport

«If one analyses more carefully the studies of global air transport since the 1970s, it is clear that crises have had little impact. Since the 1970s, world air transport has doubled on average every 15 years. Over the last 50 years, there have been what seemed to be insurmountable crises, and yet each time passengers wanted to continue travelling»

Read the full article written by Patrick Milward on the future of air transport in our News section.

Read the article

EASA license

Global reference for airlines

Widely recognized for over 20 years, the pedagogical quality of European EASA training courses, and in particular ab initio training courses known as Integrated ATP, has established itself as the global reference for pilot recruitment worldwide.

Ryanair, exclusive partner of Astonfly in France

Europe's leading airline with over 300 aircraft, Ryanair is partnering with Astonfly to recruit and train its future airline pilots
through the Ryanair Mentored Programme of Integrated ATP.

+500

Ryanair pilots trained by Astonfly between 2022 and 2026.

Why become a Ryanair airline pilot?

Beginning your career as an airline pilot with the Ryanair group is a unique opportunity, offering you 6 major advantages:

Job security with Europe's largest employer of pilots,
Fast career progression to become a captain after only 3 years of experience,
A wide choice of operational bases across Europe thanks to its extensive network,
A stable flight schedule, without off-base nights, with guaranteed rest periods known 4 weeks in advance,
Flying the latest generation of aircraft including the Boeing 737-8200,
A higher average remuneration than that offered by competing companies.

They have become pilots with Astonﬂy

Since its creation, Astonfly has trained more than 1 500 airline pilots,
currently working for over 50 airlines worldwide

Lucas Herail, First Officer, Boeing 737

I did my airline pilot’s training with Astonfly. Thanks to this high-quality training, I have acquired the rigour and professionalism which are essential skills for carrying out this profession.

I benefited from an adapted infrastructure, a team of instructors competent and a very modern fleet. Also, I consider that Astonﬂy brings together all the training qualities necessary for success in this job. Therefore, I recommend this flight school.

Antoine Martorana, First Officer, Embraer

Astonfly was my number one choice for my commercial pilot training after a background as an aeronautical engineer. The professionalism of the school, the experienced instructors and the modern fleet of aircraft prepared me from the start for the standards of my first employers. I started my career as a single pilot on the Diamond DA62, then I joined Ryanair with my training partner less than a year after leaving school, and now I'm First Officer on Embraer at Hop.

The high standards and demands of my Astonfly training ensured a smooth transition to my Boeing 737NG rating. I certainly approached my training seriously but I have always enjoyed flying at this great school.

Anthony Bégé, First Officer, Airbus A330

After a few years spent as a navigator in the Air Force, I decided to retrain as a civilian pilot to put the military experience I had gained to proﬁt. When looking for a school to take the CPL licence and ME IR rating, I rapidly chose Astonﬂy. Indeed the use of a modern fleet, the issuing of EASA qualiﬁcations and the location in the Paris region were decisive.

This gamble paid off since, following my training, I started working as an instructor and then rapidly as an airline pilot Officer in business aviation and now as a First Officer with Corsair.

Hugo Marques Costa, First Officer, Boeing 737

"Do it well, or don't do it". That's Astonfly's motto. I completed my integrated curriculum at Astonfly in September 2020.

This school near Paris was growing fast, with top-quality service and a state-of-the-art fleet similar to airliners. It was also renowned for its theoretical and practical teaching methods, enabling me to meet the demands of airlines right from the end of my training, such as safety and adaptability."

David Sitruk, First Officer, Dassault Falcon 7X

"Professional and rigorous school with numerous instructors in brand-new premises. Latest-generation aircraft, clean and available thanks to an on-site mechanical workshop and high-performance ramp service.

I completed my integrated training in less than 18 months, and was immediately hired by a business aviation company, which was my goal. It's a real pleasure to have been trained at this school. I can only recommend it."

Solal Gabin-Novel, First Officer, Boeing 737

"As a former student at Astonfly for my ATPL training from 2018 to 2020, I really appreciated the two years I spent at the school, which enabled me to reach the standard required to enter the airline industry.

Throughout the course, the various instructors who trained me and the teaching team provided me with all the skills I needed to pass the exams, as well as the selections. It was the quality of the training that enabled a smooth transition to type and line qualification."

Olivier Larignon, First Officer, Boeing 737

"In 2018, I joined the ASTONFLY school for integrated ATP training. The quality of the teaching team and the meeting with brilliant instructors gave me the opportunity to reach my goal in a field I'm passionate about. The methods instilled by this school: a taste for hard work and effort, and a sense of perseverance enabled me to be prepared for type rating as well as line operations.

I can only highly recommend this school and would like to thank the whole team who supported me in my work to gain access to the controls of a liner."

Nicolas Jovanovic, First Officer, Boeing 737

"A former Astonfly student who trained as an airline pilot, I was lucky enough to benefit from high-quality training, with a professionalism that met the demands of the job, on a fleet of modern aircraft, with competent and demanding instructors.

Thanks to this high-quality training, I was lucky enough to pass my Boeing 737 type rating and then to be immediately selected by Air Baltic. I'm now continuing my career with Norwegian."

Pauline Foubart, First Officer, Airbus A320

"I did my training with Astonfly from September 2018 to September 2020. The theory was taught in Toussus le Noble. Then came the practice, I was lucky enough to have great instructors, who taught me through flights and simulators the profession of airline pilot.

I started as a pilot with Astonjet in business aviation, then joined Air France as a co-pilot on the Airbus 320."