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

The Nigerian route runs to a commercial pilot license (CPL) issued by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) under Part 2 of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig.CARs 2023): a Class 1 medical from an NCAA-authorized examiner, training at an approved school such as the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) in Zaria or the International Aviation College (IAC) in Ilorin, at least 200 hours of flight time, or 150 on an approved course, NCAA knowledge tests passed at 75% and a skill test, then the instrument and multi-engine ratings that the airline transport license (ATPL) asks for at 1,500 hours. NCAT lists its Standard Pilot Course at two years, and IAC says most of its student pilots finish the CPL with both ratings within 21 months. We give no price total: on 22 October 2026 we could not read two Nigerian schools’ current published price lists (step 7). Our jobs board does not track a Nigerian airline yet, so this page names none of their requirements (step 5). The rules are quoted from Part 2 itself (April 2023, Amendment 4) and NCAA’s own pages, read on 22 October 2026. NCAT’s and IAC’s pages and the press could not be opened that day, so what we give from them comes from search-engine copies: check it with the school before you rely on it.

1. The Class 1 medical, first

Book the medical before you pay for training. Part 2 asks for a current Class 1 medical certificate for the CPL, the multi-crew license (MPL), the ATPL and the flight instructor rating (2.2.1.5, 2.3.5.1(b), 2.3.7.1(b), 2.3.9.2(b)). A student pilot may fly solo on a Class 2 (2.3.3.1(d)), but the Class 1 tells you, before you spend the money, whether you can hold the license you are training for, and NCAT’s and IAC’s CPL courses ask for a valid Class 1 to start (their course pages, as search results showed them on 22 October 2026).

You are examined by an authorized aviation medical examiner (AAME), a doctor NCAA designates; NCAA may designate AAMEs outside Nigeria too, and it publishes its list of them on its website. A doctor needs advanced training in aviation medicine before doing Class 1 examinations, and the issue of a Class 1 can be delegated to an AAME (2.11.1.3, 2.11.1.8(b)), so ask whether the examiner you book issues the Class 1 or sends the file to NCAA. Ask the fee when you book.

How long it lasts. Part 2 makes a Class 1 valid for 12 months for the CPL, MPL and ATPL. From your 40th birthday it drops to 6 months if you carry passengers in single-pilot commercial air transport, and from your 60th to 6 months in any commercial air transport. The period follows your age on the day of the examination, and NCAA may extend a certificate by up to 45 days (2.11.1.8(c)). These are ICAO Annex 1’s periods, so an airline First Officer under 60 in multi-crew flying renews once a year. The medical certification article explains what the examination looks at.

2. The licenses, and where to train

Nigeria’s pilot licenses are set by Part 2, Personnel Licensing, of the Nig.CARs. Its 2023 edition, the fourth amendment, replaced the 2015 regulations from 10 July 2023, NCAA’s notice says, and licenses issued under the 2015 rules stay valid until they are renewed. Part 2 says its requirements meet the standards of ICAO Annex 1, through Amendment 178. NCAA issues or validates the license of the pilot of every aircraft registered in Nigeria (Part 2’s introduction), so a foreign license needs NCAA’s validation before you fly one (step 6).

The ladder. A student pilot authorization (SPA) from the age of 16, which NCAA asks you to apply for before you need it; you fly solo on it with at least a Class 2 and under a licensed flight instructor’s supervision (2.3.3.1). Then the private license (PPL: 17, a Class 2 and at least 40 hours, or 35 on an approved course, 2.3.4), the commercial license (CPL), and the instrument rating (from 17, with 50 hours of cross-country flight in command and 40 hours of instrument time, 2.3.8) and the multi-engine rating, both of which the ATPL asks for (2.3.7.2). Part 2 also has a multi-crew pilot license (MPL), an approved course of at least 240 hours toward the co-pilot’s seat of a turbine airliner (2.3.6): ask a school whether it runs one.

The CPL’s minimums (2.3.5.1 and 2.3.5.2): an age of 18, a current Class 1, a PPL, and at least 200 hours of flight time as a pilot of airplanes, or 150 on an NCAA-approved course at an approved training organization, of which up to 20 may be in a flight simulation training device. Of that time, in airplanes, at least:

• 100 hours as pilot in command, or 70 on an approved course;
• 20 hours of cross-country flight as pilot in command, including one cross-country flight of at least 540 km (300 nautical miles) with full-stop landings at two different aerodromes;
• 10 hours of instrument instruction, no more than 5 of them on the ground;
• for night privileges, 5 hours of night flight with 5 takeoffs and 5 landings as pilot in command;
• and 25 hours of dual instruction from an authorized instructor, up to 5 of them in a simulator.

The 200, 150, 100 and 70 hours and the cross-country, instrument and night figures are ICAO Annex 1’s floor. The CPL lets you command a single-pilot commercial flight and fly as co-pilot where one is required (2.3.5.1(c)(13)), and it is valid for 5 years, renewed when the license, the medical and your recent experience are current (2.3.5.1(c)(14) and (15)); the ATPL runs on the same 5-year cycle (2.3.7.1(h)).

Where to train. Approved training for a license is given in an approved training organization (ATO), which NCAA certifies under Part 3 of the Nig.CARs (Part 2, 2.2.5.2). NCAA publishes a list of the domestic ATOs on its website, so check a school is on it before you pay. If you plan to train abroad toward a Nigerian license, ask NCAA first: Part 2 lets it rely on another state’s training and testing where it has an agreement with that state, and you need its written approval before you start (2.2.5.6); a foreign license you bring home instead goes through validation or conversion (step 6). The two best-known schools in Nigeria belong to governments:

• NCAT, in Zaria, Kaduna State, the federal government’s college. Its flying school lists a Standard Pilot Course of two years, and separate courses for the PPL (6 months), the CPL (6 months), the instrument rating (5 months) and the multi-engine rating (1 month). Its CPL course asks for a PPL, an age of 17 to start and a valid Class 1.
• IAC, in Ilorin, owned by the Kwara State government. Its CPL (airplane) course runs 18 months and asks for a PPL, an age of 17 and a valid Class 1 at the start; IAC says most of its student pilots graduate with the CPL, the instrument rating and the multi-engine rating within 21 months, in intakes expected twice a year with at most 20 in a class. Ask IAC when its next intake opens.

Both are as their own pages gave them in search results on 22 October 2026. The commercial and airline transport pilot licenses article explains what each license allows.

3. The NCAA knowledge tests, and English

Each license and rating has its NCAA knowledge test and a skill test. Part 2 and NCAA’s pages, read on 22 October 2026, set the rules:

• You need NCAA’s written authorization to take a test, or to retake one, an instructor’s endorsement that you are ready, and a government-issued identity document with your photograph, signature, date of birth and address (2.2.5.5).
• Tests are held at the times and places NCAA sets, and the knowledge test is written or on a computer (2.2.5.4). NCAA takes applications for the knowledge tests at its headquarters in Abuja and its regional offices in Lagos, Kaduna and Enugu (its FAQ).
• The pass mark is 75% (NCAA’s FAQ; Part 2 leaves the pass mark to NCAA).
• A knowledge test result is valid for 24 calendar months from its issue (FAQ): you must have passed the knowledge test within the 24 calendar months before the month you pass the skill test. The ATPL knowledge test lasts 7 years if you are, and have been continuously, employed as a flight crew member by an operator certificated under Part 9 of the Nig.CARs (2.2.5.5(e)).
• After a failure you may retake a test once an authorized instructor has given you more training, judged you ready and endorsed you (2.2.5.5(g)).
• The CPL’s knowledge subjects are air law, aircraft general knowledge, flight performance, planning and loading, human performance, meteorology, navigation, operational procedures, principles of flight and radio communication (2.3.5.1(c)). NCAA’s FAQ puts the syllabi of every knowledge test in Advisory Circular NCAA-AC-PEL 018, and its advisory circular for the commercial pilot (airplane) sets the CPL skill test standards.

v1prep’s ATPL theory banks follow the EASA syllabus, not NCAA’s: they cover the same meteorology, navigation, performance and systems, but not Nigerian air law or NCAA’s question style.

English. Part 2 asks every pilot to speak and understand the English of radiotelephony to at least Level 4 (Operational) on the ICAO scale, with the aim of Level 6, and re-tests you at intervals: at most every 3 years at Level 4 and every 6 years at Level 5, while Level 6 (Expert) is not re-tested (2.2.2). NCAA issues an English language proficiency endorsement once you meet the requirement (2.2.1.4).

4. From license to the first airline job

The ATPL is the license to command in commercial air transport: its holder may act as pilot in command and as co-pilot in commercial air transportation (2.3.7.1(g)). Its minimums (2.3.7.1 and 2.3.7.2): an age of 21, a current Class 1, a CPL with the instrument and multi-engine ratings, the ATPL knowledge and skill tests, and at least 1,500 hours of flight time as a pilot of airplanes, up to 100 of them in a simulator, including, in airplanes:

• 500 hours as pilot in command, or made up of at least 100 in command and the rest as co-pilot doing the captain’s duties under the captain’s supervision, by a method NCAA accepts;
• 200 hours of cross-country flight, at least 100 of them in command or as co-pilot under that supervision;
• 75 hours of instrument time, no more than 30 of them on the ground;
• 100 hours of night flight as pilot in command or co-pilot.

Part 2 notes that these exceed ICAO Annex 1’s floor, which Amendment 167 relaxed to give more credit for time in command under supervision. NCAT’s ATPL course asks for an age of 21, a Class 1 and a CPL with 1,500 hours (its course page, as search results showed it on 22 October 2026).

So the first airline seat is a First Officer’s, on the CPL with the instrument and multi-engine ratings, and the step that decides it is the type rating, the course that qualifies you on the airline’s aircraft. Most Nigerian airlines now prefer pilots who already hold one, newly licensed pilots without one struggle to be hired, and some pay for a rating themselves; the simulators are mostly abroad, so the training is too (the chief executive of a pilot-training provider, interviewed by Nairametrics in July 2026, as search results showed the article on 22 October 2026; reported, not published by the airlines). Before you pay for a rating, ask the airline whether it will hire you on it, who pays when it does and whether the rating is bonded.

The hours in between have to be built. The classic way is instructing: Part 2 sets a flight instructor rating, which needs a Class 1 (2.3.9.2). The flight instructors and examiners article explains the ratings, the low-hour pilot jobs page lists every airline on our board that takes First Officers at 500 hours or less, and the hours requirements page compares the minimums.

From the military. A rated military pilot, or a former one not taken off flying for lack of proficiency or for discipline, may apply on the strength of military training for a CPL and the class, instrument and type ratings: with knowledge tests in air law, meteorology, operational procedures and radio communication if you flew actively in the last 12 months, and with knowledge and skill tests if not (2.2.3.1).

How long it runs. On Nigerian-registered aircraft in commercial air transport, you may not command a single-pilot flight from your 60th birthday, and in a crew of more than one pilot one pilot may be up to 65 provided the other is under 60 (2.3.1.5).

5. The airlines: none in Nigeria on our board yet

Our jobs board does not track a Nigerian airline yet, so this page gives no Nigerian airline’s requirements: we state an airline’s terms only from its own careers page, dated, and on 22 October 2026 we could not open any Nigerian airline’s pages. Read each airline’s own careers page, note the date on it, and ask whether it takes First Officers without a type rating (step 4).

The table shows the African airlines our board does track, each as it stood at the date in the last column. Most of their First Officer and cadet doors are for their own nationals: Kenya Airways’ First Officer listing was for Kenyan citizens (checked 21 October 2026); EgyptAir’s for Egyptian nationals (checked 21 September 2026); South African Airways asks for South African citizenship (checked 21 October 2026); Airlink asks for it on its First Officer streams (checked 21 October 2026); Ethiopian Airlines’ cadet route is for Ethiopian applicants (checked 16 October 2026); Royal Air Maroc’s cadet intakes are for Moroccan nationals (checked 21 September 2026). The doors they open to pilots from elsewhere are contracts for experienced, type-rated pilots: Ethiopian Airlines had expatriate Captain postings open for the A350, the 777 and 787 and the 737, on contract, asking for 3,500 hours of jet time with 2,500 in command of jets (checked 16 October 2026); Royal Air Maroc recruits type-rated 737 and 787 First Officers and 737 Captains on contract through an agency, with a Moroccan work permit (checked 21 September 2026). The pilot jobs in Africa page compares them.

6. Foreign licenses, and pilots from abroad

A license is not a work permit: the right to work in Nigeria is a separate, immigration question.

NCAA converts or validates only licenses issued by an ICAO Contracting State that meets the minimum standards of Annex 1 and the requirements of Part 2 (its FAQ). Part 2 sets two routes (2.2.4):

• Validation (2.2.4.1), to fly aircraft registered in Nigeria on your foreign license. You need a current, valid license from another Contracting State, your license and logbook, a current Part 2 medical or your state’s if its standards meet Part 2, and evidence of English at the level of 2.2.2, or a test of it; NCAA checks the license, ratings and medical with the state that issued them. For a CPL, an instrument rating, an MPL or an ATPL you also show knowledge of Nigerian air law, meteorology, operational procedures and radio communication, pass a skill test and meet an experience table: for commercial air transport in multi-pilot airplanes, more than 500 hours as pilot in command or co-pilot on them, with an ATPL or a CPL and instrument rating, to fly as co-pilot, and more than 1,500 hours in command on them, with an ATPL, to fly as captain (2.2.4.1(c)). A validation certificate is valid for 1 year, as long as the foreign license and medical stay valid.
• Conversion (2.2.4.2), to a Nigerian license. A foreign license with at least private privileges converts to a Nigerian PPL with a Part 2 Class 2, the English evidence, the same four knowledge subjects and a PPL skill test. A foreign CPL, MPL or ATPL converts only once you hold a current Nigerian validation and have flown 1,000 hours under it on Nigerian-registered aircraft of an operator established in Nigeria, shown in your logbook, with a Part 2 medical for the license.

So a professional license from abroad is validated first and converted later, and a pilot fresh from a foreign school with a CPL and instrument rating but no multi-pilot time meets none of the validation table’s commercial air transport lines. Ask NCAA’s licensing department how it will treat your license before you choose a school abroad, and which tests it needs before you book anything. If you are choosing where to train, the FAA and EASA licenses compared sets the two largest systems side by side.

7. Money and time

Fees change. In February 2023 Nairametrics reported that IAC was considering doubling its pilot tuition (as search results showed the article on 22 October 2026), so check a school’s current fee with the school, not in an older brochure or a fee list on a third-party site.

Check what each price includes: the medical, the test and license fees, accommodation and feeding (NCAT lists some fees with them and some without), the headset and books are often extra, and an estimate is built on the minimum hours, so you may need more. Ask every school how many aircraft and instructors it has flying, and what happens to the money you have paid if you, or the school, stop.

Common questions

How long does it take to become a pilot in Nigeria? NCAT lists its Standard Pilot Course at two years, and IAC says most of its student pilots graduate with the CPL, the instrument rating and the multi-engine rating within 21 months. Then come a type rating and the hours an airline asks for; the ATPL itself needs at least 1,500 hours of flight time under Part 2 of the Nig.CARs.

How much does pilot training cost in Nigeria? We do not quote a total: on 22 October 2026 we could not read two Nigerian schools’ current published price lists, NCAT’s own pages give different figures for the same courses, and IAC gives its CPL fee on request. Fees change: in February 2023 Nairametrics reported that IAC was considering doubling its pilot tuition. Ask each school for a current, itemized quote, and ask an airline who pays for the type rating.

What do I need to start pilot training in Nigeria? A Class 1 medical from an NCAA-authorized aviation medical examiner, then a place at an approved training organization: NCAT’s and IAC’s CPL courses ask for a PPL, an age of 17 and a valid Class 1. You can fly as a student pilot from 16. Part 2 of the Nig.CARs sets the CPL at an age of 18 and at least 200 hours of flight time, or 150 on an approved course, plus NCAA knowledge tests passed at 75% and a skill test.

Can I convert a foreign pilot license to a Nigerian one? Yes, if it was issued by an ICAO Contracting State that meets Annex 1 and Part 2 of the Nig.CARs, but a professional license is validated first: a validation lets you fly Nigerian-registered aircraft on your foreign license for a year, and for a CPL or ATPL it takes knowledge of Nigerian air law, meteorology, operational procedures and radio communication, a skill test, English at Level 4 or above and, for airline flying, more than 500 hours on multi-pilot airplanes. A foreign CPL, MPL or ATPL converts to a Nigerian license after 1,000 hours flown on that validation for an operator established in Nigeria; a private license converts with a Class 2, the same knowledge subjects and a PPL skill test.

Which Nigerian airlines are hiring pilots? Our jobs board does not track a Nigerian airline yet, so we cannot say which are recruiting: read each airline’s own careers page and note the date on it. A pilot-training provider told Nairametrics in July 2026 that most Nigerian airlines now prefer pilots who already hold a type rating, so ask each airline whether it takes First Officers without one.