How to Become an Airline Pilot in Europe: License, Cost and Airlines

The 27 EU states, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland share one licensing system, EASA’s, so the route is the same in all 31: a Class 1 medical first, then an integrated course, the modular route taken stage by stage or an airline’s cadet or MPL course, to a commercial pilot license with a multi-engine instrument rating and the 13 ATPL theory exams passed, the “frozen ATPL” that European airlines hire on, or a multi-crew pilot license. Two schools’ published prices put an integrated course at about EUR 85,000 to 130,000 in 2026, in about 20 to 24 months (the National Flight Centre in Dublin and the Lufthansa Group’s European Flight Academy), and the license, issued by one national authority and valid in every EASA state, becomes a full ATPL at 21 with 1,500 hours. This page sets out the route every EASA state shares, from the rules themselves; what changes from one country to the next is the authority, the exam language and the airlines’ own rules, which steps 3 to 6 begin to show.

1. The Class 1 medical, first

Get the Class 1 medical before you pay for any training. It is the certificate the commercial license, the MPL and the ATPL all need, and the examination is where a problem with your eyesight, hearing or medical history shows up: better found now than after the money is spent. Under Part-MED, the medical annex of the Aircrew Regulation (EU) No 1178/2011, the first Class 1 examination can be done only at an aero-medical center (AeMC) certified for Class 1; revalidations and renewals can also be done by an aero-medical examiner (AME) with Class 1 privileges. EASA keeps no list of either: the national authorities usually publish their own, and EASA lists the approved centers outside Europe (EASA’s medical FAQ).

A Class 1 issued by an examiner that an EASA state has authorized is recognized in every member state without validation, so you can take it in one country and train in another. It lasts 12 months, and 6 months from the age of 60, or from 40 for a pilot in single-pilot commercial air transport with passengers (MED.A.045). A revalidation taken up to 45 days before the expiry date loses no validity, and a Class 1 also carries the Class 2 and LAPL privileges, so once its Class 1 period runs out it still serves for private flying.

A valid certificate is not always enough: KLM wants the medical, like the license, issued in the Netherlands or converted to Dutch issue before you start, at your own cost (checked 13 October 2026). The medical certification article explains the classes and the examination.

2. Integrated, modular or MPL: the routes to the license

Every course for a professional license, the instrument rating or a type rating is run by an approved training organization (ATO), approved by its national authority; a declared training organization (DTO) trains only for the leisure licenses, such as the LAPL and PPL, and their ratings. The minimum age for a commercial pilot license (CPL) or an MPL is 18. Whichever route you take, you finish with a CPL with a multi-engine instrument rating and all the ATPL theory passed, or an MPL:

• Integrated: one continuous full-time course at an ATO, from no experience to the frozen ATPL. Part-FCL sets at least 195 hours of flying training, progress tests included, of which up to 55 may be instrument time in a ground trainer, and at least 750 hours of theory (Appendix 3). The National Flight Centre in Dublin completes its course in 20 months, and the European Flight Academy puts its own at about 24 months without the type rating (step 7).
• Modular: the same license in stages, often while working: a private license, hour building, an ATPL theory course of at least 650 hours, much of it by distance learning, the CPL course, the instrument rating and the MCC. You need 150 hours of flight time, 50 of them as pilot in command of airplanes, before the CPL course’s flying starts, and 200 hours in all for the license (Appendix 3). You choose the schools and pay as you go, and it takes as long as your money and time allow.
• MPL, the multi-crew pilot license: a course that trains you as the co-pilot of a multi-pilot airplane from the start, with at least 240 hours of flying training, as pilot flying and pilot not flying, in the airplane and the simulator. Its privileges are those of a co-pilot in an airplane that must be flown with one, and flying single-pilot airplanes needs further requirements met; at 1,500 hours it leads to the ATPL like the CPL. The course is usually run for a sponsoring airline: Aer Lingus, Brussels Airlines, Condor and ITA Airways name MPL routes on our jobs board.
• Cadet programs sit on top of these routes: the airline selects you first and a partner school trains you. 22 of the 34 airlines in EASA states on our jobs board name a cadet, academy or MPL route, and who pays differs from one to the next, from fully funded to self-funded (step 7). The cadet programs page sets out who pays on each.

Before your first multi-pilot type rating you also need a multi-crew cooperation (MCC) course, at least 25 hours of theory and 20 of practical training, 15 on an integrated course, in a simulator (FCL.735.A), and, since 20 December 2019, the advanced upset prevention and recovery training course of FCL.745.A, flown in an airplane. The airline pilot standards MCC (APS MCC) is a longer form, with swept-wing jet training, airline scenarios and a final assessment: Ryanair’s cadets need it, and Ryanair no longer accepts a standard MCC certificate from them (checked 12 October 2026); Icelandair asks its direct-entry First Officers for it (checked 13 October 2026). Ask your school which one its price includes. The MCC courses article explains both, and the commercial and airline transport pilot licenses article sets out the licenses.

3. The ATPL theory exams, and English

The ATPL theory is the largest block of study: 13 exams, 671 multiple-choice questions and 20 hours 45 minutes of examination in all, from 010 Air Law and 050 Meteorology to 081 Principles of Flight and 090 Communications, which replaced the old separate VFR and IFR papers. You need 75% in each. The questions come from the European Central Question Bank, which EASA administers and keeps confidential (EASA’s licensing FAQ), and each national authority runs its own exams. At the Swedish Transport Agency, for one, your flight school registers you, CPL and ATPL exams are sat on a computer with an invigilator, only at an ATO that teaches those courses or at another facility the agency approves, and they are all in English: only the LAPL and PPL exams can also be taken in Swedish. Ask your school which languages and centers its authority offers.

• The time limits (FCL.025): pass every paper within 18 months, counted from the end of the month of your first attempt, with no more than four attempts at any one paper and in no more than six sittings. Break any limit and the whole examination counts as failed: you take more training and sit all 13 again. Your school must recommend you before your first attempt, and its recommendation lasts 12 months.
• Validity: the passes count for 36 months toward a CPL or an instrument rating, and toward the ATPL itself for seven years from the last validity date of an instrument rating in your license.
• Exam rules: recording any content of the exams is forbidden, and a candidate who breaks the rules can be barred from every theory exam in every EASA state for at least 12 months (the Swedish Transport Agency). A dispute over a result is settled at the national level, not by EASA, which hears appeals only against its own decisions (EASA’s licensing FAQ).
• English: a pilot who uses the radio needs a language proficiency endorsement at ICAO Level 4 or above, in English or the language used on the radio, and an instrument rating needs proven English as well (FCL.055). Level 4 is reassessed every 4 years, Level 5 every 6, and Level 6 not at all. Airlines often ask for more: KLM asks for Level 6 (checked 13 October 2026); SAS for Level 5 or 6 (checked 12 October 2026); Aer Lingus for Level 5 from direct-entry pilots (checked 12 October 2026); Norwegian for Level 5 (checked 21 September 2026); Air France for Level 5 and a TOEIC score of 850 from direct-entry pilots (checked 25 August 2026); Cargolux prefers Level 6 to its Level 4 minimum (checked 18 October 2026).

Our ATPL exams guide sets out all 13 papers with their questions and time, and how to plan the sittings.

4. From license to first job

You leave training with a frozen ATPL, a CPL with a multi-engine instrument rating and all 13 ATPL exams passed, or an MPL. Either becomes a full ATPL (FCL.510.A) when you are 21 and have 1,500 hours in airplanes, including 500 in multi-pilot operations, 250 as pilot in command (or 500 as pilot in command under supervision, or a mix with at least 70 in command), 200 cross-country, 75 on instruments and 100 at night, and you pass the ATPL skill test in a multi-pilot airplane; up to 100 of the 1,500 hours may be flown in simulators. European airlines hire long before that, on the frozen license or the MPL.

Of the 34 airlines in EASA states on our jobs board, 12 publish a First or Second Officer entry at 500 hours or less, for pilots without a type rating, each in the airline’s own measure of hours at its last check: no minimum at Air France, Binter, Condor and Vueling; 70 h at Aegean Airlines and Smartwings; 100 h at Ryanair Group; 140 h at Wizz Air; 200 h at Enter Air; 400 h at SAS; 500 h at Iberia and Lufthansa City Airlines. 24 of the 34 publish an entry for pilots without a type rating. The low-hour pilot jobs page lists the low entries worldwide, and the hours requirements page every published minimum.

Read the hours with their qualifier. Many minimums count only multi-crew or heavy-aircraft time: SAS’s 400 hours are on CS-25 or FAR-25 aircraft (checked 12 October 2026); Iberia’s 500 hours are on airplanes certified under CS-25, and you must be flying for an operator when you apply (checked 12 October 2026); Lufthansa City Airlines’ 500 hours are on CS-25 aircraft (checked 21 September 2026); KLM counts 500 hours on multi-engine airplanes of 5,700 kg or more, 150 of them in commercial flying in the last 12 months (checked 13 October 2026); Ryanair’s non-rated experienced First Officers need 700 hours, 500 of them as First Officer on a multi-crew, multi-engine aircraft in commercial air transport, and instructing hours do not count (checked 12 October 2026); LOT’s 737 First Officers need 800 hours, 500 of them on aircraft over 40 tonnes (checked 21 September 2026). A pilot not hired straight from training often instructs or flies general aviation meanwhile, which builds total time but not those hours.

The type rating is the course that qualifies you on one aircraft type, and it usually comes with the job, though not always free: TAP provides its A320-family course but asks you to stay three years from line release, with an indemnity of at least EUR 20,500, reduced pro rata, if you resign earlier (checked 12 October 2026); Aer Lingus bonds its conversion course, the amount falling the longer you stay (checked 12 October 2026); Wizz Air’s pilot academy charges EUR 40,000 for its advanced training with the A320 type transition, or EUR 25,000 if you meet its employment terms (checked 12 October 2026); Ryanair’s cadets pay for their own 737 type rating (checked 12 October 2026). Ask who pays and what the bond is before you sign. The non-type-rated First Officer jobs page sets out the terms airline by airline, and the A320 and Boeing 737 jobs pages list who flies each type.

5. The airlines in the EASA states, and what they ask

The 34 airlines on our jobs board based in an EASA state, each as it stood at the date in the last column. At the last check 15 of them had the First Officer seat open, recruiting or holding a pool, and Lufthansa Group took First Officers only from its own academy. The minimum is the airline’s own figure, in its own measure of hours: step 4 reads the qualifiers behind it, and step 6 the passport and language rules. TUI, listed under the UK on our board, also flies from Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and the Nordic countries, and for its European operators it asks for an EASA license, held before you apply and issued for the operator’s country, and an EU passport (checked 18 October 2026).

The UK left the EASA system at the end of 2020, so its 6 airlines on our board want a UK license for their UK bases: the UK guide covers them. Turkey is not an EASA state, and its 3 airlines on our board are on the Europe jobs board with the rest.

6. Foreign pilots and license conversions

The right to work comes first. A license lets you fly; it does not let you work in another country. 25 of the 34 airlines in EASA states on our jobs board ask for a nationality, a residence or a right to work you must already hold, or say they do not sponsor a visa, and none says it sponsors one; for the other 9 it is not published or unclear. Air France asks for the nationality of an EEA state or Switzerland (checked 25 August 2026); KLM’s English cockpit page for a passport of an EU state, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland or Liechtenstein (checked 13 October 2026); Lufthansa for EU, Swiss or EFTA citizenship (checked 12 October 2026); Luxair also considers applicants from outside the EU (checked 29 September 2026). The visa sponsorship page lists the airlines that sponsor one, worldwide. Many also ask for the local language: KLM a Dutch exam at CEFR B2 before selection on its Dutch-language vacancy, and A2 within a year and B1 before command on its English-language ones (checked 13 October 2026); SWISS German at B2 if it is not your first language (checked 21 September 2026); Iberia Spanish at level 5 (checked 12 October 2026); Air Europa Spanish at level 6 (checked 29 September 2026); TAP Portuguese as well as English (checked 12 October 2026); Finnair fluent Finnish (checked 21 September 2026); Widerøe a Scandinavian language (checked 21 September 2026); Brussels Airlines’ cadets French or Dutch (checked 21 September 2026).

Moving inside the EASA system needs no conversion: the license and the Class 1 are valid in every member state. Some airlines still want them issued by their own authority: KLM wants the license issued in the Netherlands, or converted to Dutch issue, before you start, at your own cost (checked 13 October 2026); SAS accepts an EASA license from outside Scandinavia but has it converted before the course starts (checked 12 October 2026); Vueling wants a Spanish EASA license before its operator conversion course (checked 12 October 2026); TAP has a license from another authority transferred to Portugal’s ANAC by the operator proficiency check, at your cost (checked 12 October 2026); Cargolux asks you to agree to transfer your license to a Luxembourg-issued EASA license (checked 18 October 2026).

A license from outside the EASA system is converted under Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/723 of 4 March 2020, which sets the credits and experience requirements, and the national authorities do the converting, so you deal with the authority of the state where you live or want to work (EASA’s licensing FAQ). The regulation also allows a validation, a limited acceptance of the foreign license, and converting for airline work usually means an EASA medical, the EASA theory exams and a skill test. Since 1 January 2021 a UK license counts as a third-country license in the EASA states: it is no longer valid there, so it cannot be used to fly for a commercial operator their authorities oversee, and its holder converts it under 2020/723 like any other (EASA’s Brexit FAQ). A military pilot’s experience is credited under Article 10 of Regulation (EU) No 1178/2011, on a credit report by the authority of the state where the pilot served (EASA’s licensing FAQ). FAA vs EASA covers the FAA conversion in both directions.

7. Money and time

Check what each price includes. NFC’s, by its course page, covers 230 hours of flight and simulator training, the 750 hours of classroom theory, the APS MCC course, briefings, charts, your equipment and uniform, and the aircraft for the flight tests; it asks for an EASA Class 1 medical, IELTS 6.5 or higher and the right to live and study in the EU. The European Flight Academy’s covers the theory and flying phases, learning material and certificates, the flight to the partner school in Phoenix where the flying begins, student housing there and flight uniforms, but not the type rating; you pay the DLR aptitude test (EUR 427), the medicals, the US visa and an iPad on top. If you leave its course for performance reasons, what you owe is capped at 20 to 60% of the price, by phase, and its Take-off Promise refunds half the price if no Lufthansa Group airline offers you a cockpit job within 24 months of finishing, as long as you can show you applied for the group’s suitable cockpit vacancies and still meet the training requirements (the schools’ own pages, 18 October 2026). Ask every school about exam fees, the upset training course and the type rating, and what happens to the money you have paid if you, or the school, stop.

Common questions

How long does it take to become an airline pilot in Europe? About 20 months to a frozen ATPL on the National Flight Centre’s full-time integrated course in Dublin, and about 24 months without the type rating at the Lufthansa Group’s European Flight Academy, by the schools’ own pages; the modular route takes longer, at your own pace. The license becomes a full ATPL once you are 21 and have 1,500 hours, 500 of them in multi-pilot operations, and European airlines hire long before that, on the frozen license.

How much does it cost to become a pilot in Europe? About EUR 85,000 to 130,000 for an integrated course, on two schools’ published prices in October 2026: the National Flight Centre in Dublin EUR 83,500 for European students, and the European Flight Academy EUR 130,000 for its German program, without the type rating. Some airlines finance their own courses instead: KLM Flight Academy’s 2026 course costs EUR 163,500, which KLM finances and you repay from your salary. Ask what each price includes, and who pays for the type rating.

Is an EASA license valid in every European country? In every EASA member state: the 27 EU states, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, where the license and the Class 1 medical are valid without conversion, though some airlines want them issued by their own authority. Not in the UK, which left the EASA system at the end of 2020 and whose airlines want a UK license for their UK bases, and not in Turkey, which is not an EASA state.

How many ATPL exams are there in Europe, and how long do I have to pass them? 13, run by each national authority, with 75% needed in each. You must pass all 13 within 18 months, counted from the end of the month of your first attempt, in no more than six sittings and with no more than four attempts at any one paper; break a limit and you sit the whole set again. The passes then count for 36 months toward a CPL or an instrument rating.

Can a non-EU citizen become an airline pilot in Europe? The license is not the hard part; the right to work is. 25 of the 34 airlines in EASA states on our jobs board ask for a nationality, a residence or a right to work you must already hold, or say they do not sponsor a visa, and none says it sponsors one. A license from outside the EASA system is converted through the national authority of the state where you live or want to work, under Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/723. Train where you have the right to work, or where the airlines you want to fly for hire from.