The Brussels Airlines MPL programme is a 19-month ab-initio route run with Skywings Flight Training in Antwerp, with flight training conducted in fair-weather conditions near Alicante. Around 20 to 30 cadets are taken on per year, the course costs €112,500 including VAT, and graduates join Brussels Airlines' Airbus A320 fleet as First Officers. Applicants need an EU passport and a secondary school diploma. Applications for 2026 have closed, and intakes open periodically rather than continuously — Skywings recommends starting selection four to six months before your intended course start.
The three-day selection
Day 1 — the COMPASS aptitude test (around 2.5 hours; €245), a maths and physics screening with a minimum score of 15/20, and an English test.
Day 2 — a personality questionnaire and a three-to-four-hour simulator assessment.
Day 3 — a motivation interview with the selection team and a psychologist.
Holders of a DLR certificate graded A or B are exempt from the COMPASS and personality tests, and once you have passed the COMPASS the remaining steps are free of charge. Each day is eliminatory, so the lessons that follow take them one at a time: what is tested, why, and how to train for it. Selection procedures evolve — verify the current process on the airline's own careers site.