Volaris

Volaris is Mexico's largest ultra-low-cost carrier, flying an all-Airbus A320-family fleet built around A320neos and A321neos from bases including Mexico City, Guadalajara and Tijuana. Its network covers Mexico densely and extends into the United States and Central America, much of it carrying visiting-friends-and-relatives traffic that legacy carriers price out of reach.

Flying for Volaris

Volaris runs an A320 cadet route that is genuinely open to low-hour pilots: the published requirement is a minimum of around 220 total flying hours with a commercial licence, instrument rating and multi-engine rating, a current class 1 medical, a high school diploma, ICAO English at level 4 and fluency in Spanish. No type rating is needed — the airline provides A320 training. The detail that catches people out is licensing: the ratings must be FAA-issued, which makes this a route aimed squarely at pilots who trained in the United States, and candidates need a valid US passport and visa alongside willingness to relocate between bases.

Selection follows the low-cost-carrier pattern of aptitude and psychometric testing, technical assessment, a simulator check and interviews. At 220 hours a candidate has no airline record to be judged on, so the cognitive stage does most of the sorting — reasoning, spatial orientation, memory and multitasking under time pressure are what separate applicants at this experience level.