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

The Netherlands licenses its airline pilots through the Civil Aviation Authority the Netherlands (CAA NL), part of the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT), under the EASA rules every member state shares: a Class 1 medical first, then an integrated course, the modular route or an airline’s cadet or MPL course, to a commercial license with an instrument rating and the ATPL exams passed, the “frozen ATPL” airlines hire on. The ATPL theory exams are run by the CBR, in English, and booked by your school (the CBR’s pages, as search results showed them on 31 October 2026), and KLM’s own school, KLM Flight Academy, put its two-year course at EUR 163,500 for 2026, which KLM finances and you repay in one payment or from your salary (our record of KLM, checked 13 October 2026). The route every EASA state shares, hour by hour, is on our Europe page; this one is about what is Dutch: CAA NL and the medical, the CBR’s exams, KLM Flight Academy and Transavia’s program, the Dutch airlines and their rules on Dutch, passports, licenses and security screening, moving a license to the Netherlands, its fees, and the military route.

1. The Class 1 medical, under CAA NL

The Class 1 medical is the certificate the commercial license, the MPL and the ATPL all need, so get it before you pay for any training. CAA NL’s medical page, read on 31 October 2026, sets out the Dutch side:

• Where. Your first Class 1 examination can be done only at an aero-medical center (AeMC); renewals and revalidations also by an aero-medical examiner (AME) with Class 1 privileges (CAA NL’s medical page; EASA’s medical FAQ; step 1 of the Europe page). Only doctors and centers that CAA NL has approved may examine you and issue the certificate, and CAA NL links its list of approved AeMCs and AMEs, in Dutch, from that page. You may also be examined in any other EASA state.
• Name your authority at the first examination. At your first examination you state which authority will be competent for you; if you want a Dutch license, name CAA NL. The AeMC records an initial Class 1 in EASA’s European Aero-Medical Repository (EAMR), which sends you an EAMR ID to keep for later examinations. CAA NL manages the medical records of the pilots it is competent for and oversees the examiners and centers.
• Validity. A Class 1 is valid for 12 months, and 6 from the age of 60, or from 40 for a pilot carrying passengers commercially in single-pilot operations (MED.A.045; CAA NL’s medical page). An examination taken within 45 days before the expiry date keeps that date.
• When CAA NL decides. If the examiner finds a problem with a Class 1, CAA NL’s medical assessor decides whether a certificate may be issued, and with what limitation; CAA NL says you are usually told within three weeks. A decision by an AME or AeMC can be reviewed by CAA NL if you ask in writing within six weeks of the result.
• Moving your medical records. If your medical file is held by another EASA authority, moving it to CAA NL is its own application (an aeromedical records transfer), made before a license transfer, and CAA NL issues the new license only once the records are in the Netherlands and a new medical certificate has been issued (CAA NL’s page on transferring a license, read on 31 October 2026).

KLM wants the Class 1, like the license, issued in the Netherlands or converted to Dutch issue before you start, at your own cost, and valid for at least three more months on your first day (checked 13 October 2026). A Class 1 issued in another EASA state is valid in the Netherlands (the Europe page). The medical certification article explains the classes and the examination.

2. Dutch schools and the airline routes through them

The routes are EASA’s. An integrated course at an approved training organization (ATO) has at least 750 hours of theory and 195 hours of flight training, of which up to 55 may be instrument time in a ground trainer, and the modular route needs 150 hours of flight time, 50 of them in command of airplanes, before the commercial course’s flying starts (Part-FCL Appendix 3, paragraphs A and E); the MPL is run for an airline. Step 2 of the Europe page sets out each route. You apply for the license itself to CAA NL, through its online form, once you meet the requirements: at least 18 for a commercial license or an MPL, and 21 for the ATPL (CAA NL’s page on applying for a first license, read on 31 October 2026; FCL.300, FCL.400.A and FCL.500). The pages of CAA NL we read give no list of approved training organizations, so check a school’s approval, and the courses it covers, with CAA NL before you sign. What is Dutch:

• KLM Flight Academy, KLM’s own school at Eelde, trains cadets in a two-year course, 80 of them in 2026, and they sign a KLM employment contract at the start of training, beside the training agreement; applications for the 2026/2027 school year run from 1 January 2026 to 1 April 2027 (checked 13 October 2026).
• KLM finances the course: its 2026 cost is EUR 163,500, which you repay in one payment or from your gross salary over 10 years, EUR 861 a month in 2026, indexed every year, and cadets get a training allowance of EUR 700 gross a month (checked 13 October 2026).
• KLM Flight Academy asks for Dutch or EU nationality and a very good command of Dutch, a HAVO diploma with mathematics B, physics, English and Dutch, or a VWO diploma with mathematics A or B, physics, English and Dutch, an age of at least 17 at the start, with 27.5 as a published advisory maximum, a height of 158 to 203 cm and normal color vision, and charges a selection fee of EUR 335 (checked 13 October 2026).
• Its selection runs over three to six months: personality, intellectual capacity and sensorimotor tests, a basic capacities test, a sensorimotor test and a core competency test with a psychologist, over three days at the Aviation Medical Center in Amsterdam, then a 30 to 45 minute interview with the hiring committee at Schiphol; the academy asks candidates not to take selection training (checked 13 October 2026).
• An MBO-4 diploma does not admit you directly, but the academy publishes a bridge through the Hanzehogeschool’s Airline Pilot & Management program: you earn HAVO-level physics and mathematics B certificates and apply for selection in September of the second study year, with no resit if you fail it (checked 13 October 2026).
• Transavia’s Airline Pilot Program is an MPL route to First Officer on the A320neo; its “Selectie eisen” page asks for a HAVO diploma with mathematics B, physics, English and Dutch plus a physics course, a VWO diploma with mathematics A or B, physics, English and Dutch, or one of the technical degrees it lists, an EU passport, good English and Dutch, an age of at least 18 at the start, a height of 1.58 to 2.05 m, eyesight within -6 to +5, a swimming diploma and no criminal record, and allows two attempts at the selection (checked 28 October 2026); the program’s cost, bond, length and 2027 selection dates, seen only in search results, are among the points we could not confirm (checked 28 October 2026).
• Transavia takes inexperienced First Officers with no hours minimum if they finished an APS/MCC course in the last 24 months, preferably at EPST, its selection partner in Utrecht, and preferably after one of the European flight schools it names; its First Officer page said on 28 October 2026 that the position was not open (checked 28 October 2026).
• KLM names its preferred schools for direct entry by their initials: KFA, NLS, CAE, EPST and MFA; ask a school which airline routes its graduates have taken, and on what terms.

Before your first multi-pilot type rating you also need a multi-crew cooperation (MCC) course, on an integrated course at least 25 hours of theory and exercises (Appendix 3, paragraph A.7.1), and the upset prevention and recovery training of FCL.745.A; the airline pilot standards MCC (APS MCC) is a longer form. The MCC courses article explains them, the pilot aptitude tests article the kind of tests the Dutch selections use, and the cadet programs page compares who pays on each airline scheme.

3. The ATPL exams at the CBR, in English

The ATPL theory papers, the 75% pass mark and the time limits are EASA’s (FCL.025), set out in step 3 of the Europe page and in our ATPL exams guide; once passed, the theory counts for 36 months toward the commercial license or instrument rating, and toward the ATPL for seven years from the last validity date of an instrument rating in your license. In the Netherlands the theory exams are run not by CAA NL but by the CBR, which also runs the Dutch driving tests. Its professional aviation pages, as search results showed them on 31 October 2026, say:

• Thirteen exams, booked by your school. The ATPL(A) takes 13 theory exams. Your ATO registers you with the CBR, books your exams and pays the exam fee to the CBR; you sit only with a valid admission document. We could not find the CBR’s current fee, so ask your school what its price includes.
• Exam rounds. To get the CBR’s theory statement (Verklaring Theorie) you pass every subject within 18 months, in no more than six exam rounds and four attempts at any subject. A round is ten consecutive days, with one attempt at each subject, so a resit waits for the next round.
• In English, without an interpreter. The exams are in English, and because the law requires a pilot to master the language, an interpreter is not allowed.
• Not the flight tests. The skill tests are taken with an authorized examiner, not at the CBR. The CBR also has a page on bridging exams for military pilots (step 6).
• English for the license. 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 (FCL.055, the Europe page). On a Dutch license it is valid for four years at Level 4, six at Level 5 and without limit at Level 6 (CAA NL’s page on applying for a first license). We found no CAA NL page on who assesses it, so ask your school. The airlines ask for more: KLM asks for English at Level 6; Transavia for Level 6 held when you start; TUI for Level 4 in its 2026 postings, and runs every assessment and interview in English. What they ask of your Dutch is in step 6.

4. From license to first job

You leave training with a frozen ATPL or an MPL, either of which can become a full ATPL once you have 1,500 hours in airplanes, 500 of them in multi-pilot operations and up to 100 of them in simulators, and pass the ATPL skill test (FCL.510.A and FCL.520.A, in EASA’s online rules, read on 24 October 2026; step 4 of the Europe page). Airlines hire long before that. Where the doors were at the last check:

• KLM’s standing direct-entry vacancy, “Verkeersvlieger - Piloot”, wants a valid type rating on a multi-pilot aircraft held when you apply, an EASA ATPL or frozen ATPL, and 500 hours on multi-engine airplanes of 5,700 kg or more, 150 of them in commercial flying in the 12 months before you apply; KLM then trains you on whichever of its types has room, with no choice, as a Second Officer on a wide-body or a First Officer on a European aircraft (checked 13 October 2026).
• KLM also advertised English-language “Experienced Pilot” vacancies for EU passport holders with a multi-pilot type rating, seen only in search results (checked 13 October 2026).
• KLM’s Martinair Cargo vacancy for 747 freighter First Officers, from 1,000 hours on multi-engine airplanes over 5,700 kg with 100 in command, closed on or about 31 August 2026 (checked 13 October 2026).
• Whether KLM takes Captains from outside, and whether KLM Cityhopper recruits pilots separately, are among the points we could not confirm (checked 13 October 2026).
• Transavia’s experienced First Officers, mostly based at Schiphol, need a 737 or A320/A321 rating with 500 hours on type, or 1,000 hours in all with 500 on a multi-pilot type; a new First Officer gets a five-month temporary contract, permanent after training, and Transavia puts command at 8 to 10 years (checked 28 October 2026).
• Transavia’s careers site listed a Captain posting for its Brussels base, with a 737NG rating and 1,000 hours as Captain on type (checked 28 October 2026).
• TUI fly Netherlands, one of the TUI airlines our board lists together, posted 737 and 787 type-rated and 737 low-hour First Officer vacancies in 2026, as search results showed them, and none was open on its careers site on 18 October 2026; its late-2025 posting, as search results showed it, put the assessment center at TUI’s Rijswijk head office and the simulator assessment at CAE Schiphol (checked 18 October 2026).
• easyJet lists the Netherlands among its base countries, but its pilot vacancies were for Captains at London Gatwick and Marrakesh: its own system showed no First Officer vacancy on 25 August 2026, and none was found at the last check (checked 12 October 2026).
• Corendon Dutch Airlines and other Dutch operators are not on our jobs board: read their own careers pages.

The low-hour pilot jobs page lists every airline on our board with a First or Second Officer entry at 500 hours or less, and the non-type-rated First Officer jobs page who trains you on type, in the Netherlands and beyond.

5. The airlines with Dutch bases, and what they ask

The four airlines on our jobs board with a base in the Netherlands, each as it stood at the date in the last column; one of them had the First Officer seat open, recruiting or holding a pool. KLM’s vacancies name Amsterdam Schiphol as the only location, though KLM does not say it has no other base; Transavia has most new First Officers at Schiphol, with Rotterdam The Hague and Eindhoven open to its pilots by internal vacancy, and a Brussels base on Belgian contracts; TUI, listed under the UK on our board, has Amsterdam among its bases. KLM’s standing direct-entry vacancy was open with no closing date on 25 August 2026 (checked 13 October 2026); Transavia’s First Officer seat was unconfirmed, its main First Officer page saying the position was not open while search results still showed First Officer postings, and its careers site listed a Brussels Captain posting (checked 28 October 2026); TUI’s careers site listed no pilot vacancy (checked 18 October 2026). Other Dutch airlines are not on our board, so read their own careers pages (step 4). The KLM and Transavia requirements pages set out each one’s terms line by line, and the KLM interview guide covers its selection.

6. Right to work, Dutch, licenses, security screening and the Air Force

The right to work comes first. All four airlines with a Dutch base on our jobs board ask for a right to work you must already hold, or say they sponsor no visa. KLM asks for an EU passport, and its own pages disagree on whether a Norwegian, Swiss, Icelandic or Liechtenstein passport counts, a point we could not confirm (checked 13 October 2026); Transavia asks for a valid passport of an EU member country (checked 28 October 2026); TUI for the unrestricted right to live and work in the country of the airline you apply to, and an EU passport (checked 18 October 2026). KLM offers relocation help and first housing to pilots moving to the Netherlands. The visa sponsorship page lists the airlines that sponsor one, worldwide.

Dutch. The license and the CBR’s exams need English, but Dutch can be the filter: KLM’s cockpit page and its Dutch-language vacancy say good Dutch is mandatory and, if it is not your native language, ask for a Dutch exam passed at CEFR level B2 before you enter the selection, while its English-language vacancies, seen in search results, ask for A2 within a year of joining, in one version, and B1 before command, with an online Dutch course from KLM: ask KLM which rule applies to the vacancy you apply for (checked 13 October 2026); Transavia asks its Airline Pilot Program students for good English and Dutch (checked 28 October 2026); Transavia France, which hires through Air France’s selection, asks for fluent French (checked 28 October 2026). If Dutch is not your native language, read each vacancy’s language line before you apply.

School and swimming. KLM asks for at least a HAVO diploma including English, or an MBO-4 diploma, or a foreign equivalent, and that you can swim; Transavia for at least HAVO or a foreign equivalent and swimming skills: Dutch secondary diplomas are the yardstick, so have a foreign diploma’s equivalence in hand.

Security screening. KLM’s selection ends with a screening by the AIVD, the Dutch security service, for a certificate of no objection (Verklaring Geen Bezwaar, VGB), a criminal-record and integrity check, and a pre-employment medical with tests for medication, alcohol and drugs (checked 13 October 2026); Transavia’s includes the same VGB check and a pre-appointment medical (checked 28 October 2026). A conviction or an integrity issue can stop an application that meets every flying requirement.

Which state issues your license matters. KLM wants your license and medical issued in the Netherlands, or converted to Dutch issue, before you start, and the cost of converting them is yours (checked 13 October 2026); TUI wants the license held before you apply and issued for the country of the airline you join, converted if another EU state issued it (checked 18 October 2026). An EASA license issued by another EU state, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland can be transferred to CAA NL through its online form for a Part-FCL license transfer. Move your medical records first, by their own application (step 1): CAA NL asks your current authority for your license details and records, issues the new license only once a new medical certificate has been issued, and has you return the old license. The transfer of a CPL, MPL or ATPL costs EUR 698 (a PPL or LAPL EUR 673), an amount set in the Dutch transport tariffs scheme (Regeling tarieven transportsectoren), with no VAT (CAA NL’s page on transferring a license, read on 31 October 2026). A license from another EASA state is valid in the Netherlands meanwhile (step 6 of the Europe page).

CAA NL’s own processing. The certification of pilots moved from Kiwa Register to CAA NL on 1 June 2025; CAA NL no longer accepts Kiwa’s old forms, offers no express service, and starts on an application you pay for yourself only once you have paid. Dutch administrative law gives the government eight weeks to decide on an application, and CAA NL tells license applicants the latest date by which they will have a decision, but its pages warn of delays, so apply well ahead (CAA NL’s page on the move from Kiwa, and its license pages, read on 31 October 2026).

A license from outside the EASA system is converted, or validated, under Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/723, through the authority of the state where you live or want to work (EASA’s licensing FAQ). CAA NL has an online application for an ICAO to EASA conversion or validation and a separate one for converting an FAA license, based on the bilateral aviation safety agreement between the United States and the EU; either application costs EUR 81 (CAA NL’s page on converting or validating a license, read on 31 October 2026). A UK license has counted as a third-country license since 1 January 2021 (EASA’s Brexit FAQ, step 6 of the Europe page). FAA vs EASA covers the FAA conversion in both directions.

The military route runs through the Royal Netherlands Air and Space Force (Koninklijke Luchtmacht). The Ministry of Defence recruits its officer pilots (Officier Vlieger) on werkenbijdefensie.nl, with its own pilot aptitude test (Vlieger Capaciteiten Test, VCT); search results on 31 October 2026 gave differing diploma and age terms for the vacancy, so read the current ones there, and the years of service you commit to, before you plan around them. A military pilot license issued by the Koninklijke Luchtmacht can be converted to a civil license under conditions CAA NL sets out (its page on applying for a first license), military flying is credited toward a Part-FCL license under Article 10 of the Aircrew Regulation, on a credit report by the authority of the state where the pilot served (EASA’s licensing FAQ), and the CBR has a page on bridging exams for military pilots (its title, in search results); KLM takes EU military experience in place of its hours figures, with an EU military pilot license and Dutch at B2; Transavia takes Dutch military pilots with the Groot Militair Brevet who flew in the last 24 months.

7. Money and time

Funding in the Netherlands. KLM’s newsroom announced on 19 December 2025 that students who start at KLM Flight Academy from 1 January 2026 can exchange the funding of the course for their future gross salary: once they join KLM, a monthly training contribution is deducted from their gross salary for 120 months. KLM says those who successfully complete the course are guaranteed a job as a KLM pilot, and that it agreed the arrangement with the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration; our record of KLM gives the 2026 terms above. Whether Dutch student finance (DUO), or its lifelong learning credit, can pay for a flight school course is something we could not confirm: ask DUO and the school before you count on it.

Ask every school what its price includes: the theory and flying phases, the MCC or airline pilot standards MCC, the upset training course, the CBR’s exam fees and CAA NL’s license fee, the Class 1, accommodation and the type rating, and what happens to the money you have paid if you, or the school, stop. On a cadet route, ask too who pays, what you owe if you leave or fail, and on what terms a job follows.

Common questions

How long does it take to become an airline pilot in the Netherlands? As long as your course, plus the airline selection; KLM Flight Academy’s course takes two years. The ATPL theory must be passed within 18 months, counted from the end of the month of your first attempt (FCL.025), and the frozen license can become a full ATPL once you have 1,500 hours, 500 of them multi-pilot, and pass the ATPL skill test (FCL.510.A and FCL.520.A); airlines hire before that.

How much does pilot training cost in the Netherlands? KLM Flight Academy: EUR 163,500 in 2026, financed by KLM and repaid in one payment or from your gross salary over 10 years (EUR 861 a month in 2026, indexed). We could not read another Dutch school’s published price list for this page, so ask each school for its price in writing, with what it includes; on top come the CBR’s exam fees, which your school pays, and CAA NL’s fee for the first issue of a CPL, MPL or ATPL, EUR 698 with no VAT (CAA NL’s page, read on 31 October 2026).

Do I need to speak Dutch to become a pilot in the Netherlands? Not for the license: the CBR’s ATPL exams are in English, and the radio needs English at ICAO Level 4 or above. The airlines are another matter: KLM’s cockpit page and its Dutch-language vacancy say good Dutch is mandatory and, if it is not your native language, ask for a Dutch exam passed at CEFR level B2 before you enter the selection, while its English-language vacancies, seen in search results, ask for A2 within a year of joining, in one version, and B1 before command, with an online Dutch course from KLM: ask KLM which rule applies to the vacancy you apply for; Transavia asks its Airline Pilot Program students for good English and Dutch; Transavia France, which hires through Air France’s selection, asks for fluent French.

Where do I take the ATPL exams in the Netherlands? With the CBR, in English and without an interpreter, booked and paid for by your approved training organization, which registers you; 13 exams, passed within 18 months in no more than six exam rounds of ten days and four attempts at any subject (the CBR’s pages, as search results showed them on 31 October 2026, and FCL.025). Ask your school for the dates and the place.

How do I become a KLM pilot? Through one of its two doors: the KLM Flight Academy cadet route, a two-year course that KLM finances and you repay from your salary, open to Dutch or EU nationals with very good Dutch; or, as an experienced pilot, the direct-entry vacancy, which wants a multi-pilot type rating already held, 500 hours on multi-engine airplanes of 5,700 kg or more with 150 commercial hours in the last 12 months, English at Level 6, an EU passport and Dutch; KLM’s selection for experienced pilots runs from a CV screening and an online assessment to a psychological assessment, a simulator grading, an interview with the hiring committee and a security screening. The status at the last check: KLM’s standing direct-entry vacancy was open with no closing date on 25 August 2026. Apply only through KLM’s own careers site.