Almaty, Kazakhstan
Prepare for Air Astana
One course prepares you for the Air Astana selection process.
Candidate accounts consistently point to COMPASS at Air Astana's cadet selection.
Air Astana publishes nothing about it, so treat it as the likely battery rather than a settled fact.
This is reported for the ab-initio cadet programme; no published detail was found for direct-entry pilot screening.
Provider mappings are based on public information and may change. Last checked September 2026.
Air Astana is the flag carrier of Kazakhstan and the largest airline in Central Asia, headquartered in Almaty with hubs there and in Astana. Its fleet is built around the Airbus A320 family, including long-range A321LRs, alongside Boeing 767s, with Boeing 787-9s on order to open a new long-haul chapter from late 2026. The airline operates independently of the global alliances, serving destinations across Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
Flying for Air Astana
Air Astana has run an ab-initio pilot programme for Kazakhstan nationals since 2008 — one of very few such schemes in Central Asia — financing training at partner flight schools in Europe over roughly sixteen to eighteen months. Around three hundred graduates of the programme now fly for the airline as First Officers and Captains, and Air Astana also recruits experienced direct-entry pilots as its fleet grows.
Ab-initio selection is demanding, combining computer-based aptitude and psychometric testing with English-language assessment, interviews and medical screening before candidates are sent abroad for training. Since the airline invests heavily in each cadet, it screens rigorously for trainability, and thorough practice of aptitude and cognitive assessments beforehand is one of the most effective ways to demonstrate it.
Where Air Astana is based
Air Astana is headquartered in Almaty, Kazakhstan.