Middle East Business

Jazeera Airways puts cadet pilots through an 18-month ATPL course with BAA Training

By Staff Writer  |  25 October 2026

Two groups of cadets will train for the airline under the agreement, with the first group already in training in Spain since August as new narrowbody aircraft join the Kuwaiti carrier's fleet.

Jazeera Airways, the Kuwait-based low-cost carrier, has partnered with BAA Training to deliver integrated Airline Transport Pilot Licence training for its cadets. The agreement covers an 18-month ATPL Integrated programme, including Multi-Crew Cooperation training, for two groups of cadets.

The first group started training in August 2026 at BAA Training's facilities in Lleida-Alguaire, in Spain. The airline is taking new narrowbody aircraft into its fleet and widening its network, and it expects that growth to increase its need for qualified flight crew over the coming years.

How the course runs

The programme takes cadets from the start of their flying careers to the point where they are ready to join an airline. It combines theoretical instruction with single-engine and multi-engine flight training, and then moves on to Multi-Crew Cooperation training on an Airbus A320 Level 2 Flight Training Device.

The course is competency based. It is designed to build the cadets' technical ability, teamwork and operational skills, and to prepare them for the next stage of qualification, such as a type rating on the aircraft they will fly in service.

Selecting the right training partners is critical to building the strong pipeline of skilled, airline-ready pilots Jazeera Airways needs for the future.

Captain Abdulnaser Almutairi, Head of Training, Jazeera Airways

Captain Ayman Alshammari, the airline's chief operating officer, said training airline-ready pilots was a priority for the carrier's next phase of growth, and that the partnership would give its cadets access to airline-focused training.

Crew as part of the delivery plan

An 18-month course that began in August will produce its first graduates in early 2028, and they will then need type rating and line training before flying passengers. That timetable is the point of the agreement: an airline taking new aircraft has to start training the pilots to fly them well before the aircraft arrive.

The same logic runs through any growth programme that depends on physical assets arriving on time. Aircraft, hangar space, simulators and crews all have to line up, and the one that slips first sets the pace for the rest. By starting its cadet pipeline now, Jazeera Airways is treating crew supply as part of its fleet plan from the outset.

For BAA Training, the agreement adds a Gulf airline customer at a time when carriers across the region are expanding their operations and looking for more flight crew. Marijus Ravoitis, its chief executive, said the need for qualified pilots was growing as quickly as the airlines themselves.