European Airline Group Seeking Cadets for 2026 Abinitio Program Intake

Hungary – Wizz Air, a European low-cost carrier, is scheduled to hold an information session for its Wizz Air Pilot Academy (WAPA) program in Budapest on July 10, 2026. The session highlights Wizz Air's continued reliance on a self-funded cadet pipeline model, structured around post-employment loan repayment, as the airline scaled pilot throughput via its long-standing Trener Flight Academy partnership.

• The ab-initio training cost €61,460 in total, with €13,950 payable upfront before enrollment and the remainder repaid in monthly installments over five years following release as First Officer, ranging from €520 to €1,000 per month depending on the repayment period.
• Advanced training cost €40,000, reduced to €25,000 (repaid at €415 per month over five years) for cadets who completed a five-year employment commitment with Wizz Air; a €5,000 loyalty bonus waiver applied to the final five ab-initio installments under the same condition.
• The WAPA pathway comprised six stages: online application, a recruitment event (Stages 1-2 online, Stages 3-4 at Wizz Air's Training Center in Budapest), approximately 18 months of ab-initio training at Trener Flight Academy in Nyíregyháza, Hungary, roughly 14 weeks of Advanced Type Rating training, Wizz Air-specific conversion and supervised line-flying training, and final assignment to a Wizz Air base as First Officer.
• Each WAPA course enrolled 20-25 cadets; a course started on May 25, 2026, with the next scheduled for October 12, 2026, both at Trener Flight Academy.
• Eligibility was open to residents with the right to live and work in 11 countries hosting Wizz Air operational bases, including Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria; candidates paid a €130 recruitment fee for the TestAir 360 pilot aptitude test.
• AFM previously reported that Trener Flight Academy, Wizz Air's official training partner since 2016, enrolled its largest-ever cohort of 46 cadets in October 2025 under WAPA group 22, and renewed a 48-month FlightLogger digital training platform agreement in February 2026 as it now trains more than 100 cadets annually.

About Wizz Air
Wizz Air is a European ultra-low-cost airline headquartered in Budapest, Hungary, operating a fleet of more than 200 aircraft and committed to an all-Airbus A320neo family fleet by 2029. The airline operates a network of more than 200 destinations across 50 countries and is listed on the London Stock Exchange, with subsidiaries in the UK and Malta.

About Trener Flight Academy
Trener Flight Academy is a flight training organisation based in Nyíregyháza, Hungary, operating a fleet that includes 14 Piper Warrior, 6 Cessna 152, 2 Piper PA44-180 Seminole, and 4 Zlin Z-142 aircraft, alongside Antonov AN-2 and Kamov KA-26 aircraft for specialised training. The academy adopted FlightLogger in 2017, becoming Hungary's first fully digital Approved Training Organisation, and has trained more than 1,200 commercial pilots since its founding.

Source: Wizz Air