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

Singapore licenses its airline pilots through the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), under the Air Navigation Order and the Singapore Air Safety Publications that set the detail: a Class 1 medical from a designated examiner, CAAS’s theory exams, 14 papers at the airline level, an English assessment, and either an approved course to a commercial pilot license (CPL), from 155 hours, or a multi-crew pilot license (MPL) trained with a Singapore airline. Either license lets you fly as co-pilot of an airliner whose type is on it; command of one takes the airline transport pilot license (ATPL), from the age of 21 and 1,500 hours. Singapore Airlines had online applications open for its Ab Initio Cadet Pilots in Singapore (checked 30 October 2026); it trains them at the Singapore Flying College, in Singapore and overseas, with a monthly allowance, and binds them to service through the training and for 7 years from appointment as First Officer (step 2). A foreign license is converted in two steps, an assessment that needs evidence of prospective flying work in Singapore and then CAAS’s exams, medical, English assessment and flight tests (step 6). We read CAAS’s license, conversion and medical pages, its Singapore Air Safety Publication Part 2 and the advisory circulars and medical specifications it works with, and Singapore Airlines’ pilots page. We could not read the medical regulations themselves, ANR-67, and a few points from CAAS’s answers on ask.gov.sg come from search results, as we say where we use them. This page quotes no training price: we could not read two Singapore schools’ published price lists.

1. The Class 1 medical, from a designated examiner

Get the medical before you pay for training. A CPL, an MPL and an ATPL all need a valid Class 1 aviation medical certificate, granted by CAAS’s Director-General under the Air Navigation (67 – Aviation Medical Certification) Regulations 2026 (SASP Part 2, Chapter 1, paragraph 7; CAAS’s license and medical pages). Those regulations, ANR-67, and CAAS’s Aviation Specifications 7 to 9, on the medical standards, the examinations and the examiners, took effect on 16 March 2026 and replaced the Singapore Air Safety Publication Part 9 (CAAS’s notice NA11-2026 of 13 March 2026). You apply and pay on CAAS’s medical records portal, ELMeRS, and only then book the licensing medical examination, which a Designated Aviation Medical Examiner conducts at My PEL Hub, CAAS’s medical examination center at Changi Airport Terminal 2, run by Changi General Hospital (AS-8, paragraph 3.1; CAAS’s medical page). The examination report is valid for 90 days: if you have not obtained the certificate by then, you apply again and repeat the examination (AS-8, paragraph 3.4).

How long it lasts. ICAO’s floor is 12 months for a Class 1, cut to 6 months past 40 in single-pilot commercial air transport with passengers, and past 60 in commercial air transport (step 1 of our overview). Singapore’s own periods are set in ANR-67, which we could not read, so ask your examiner what yours will be; a holder who renews beyond the age of 60 takes an “Age 60” examination (AS-8, paragraph 3.3).

The airline’s own standard. Singapore Airlines asks its cadets for myopia of no more than 800 degrees and astigmatism of no more than 300, fully correctable with optical aids, and a height of at least 1.58 m. Ask the examiner about eyesight and height before you apply, as well as about the Class 1 itself. The medical certification article explains what the examination looks at.

2. The licenses, the cadet routes and the MPL

Singapore writes its own rules. Paragraph 20 of the Air Navigation Order provides for the flight crew licenses and leaves their requirements to the Singapore Air Safety Publications (SASP Part 2’s foreword): Part 1 for the student and private licenses, Part 2 for the professional ones, in its Issue 9, Amendment 9, in force from 16 March 2026, and Part 3 for the flying instructor ratings (CAAS’s personnel licensing requirements page). You register and pay for the exams on the CAAS Examination Portal and apply for every license on CAAS’s online licensing system, CAPELS (CAAS’s license pages). Every professional license also needs an aircraft rating for at least one type, earned with that type’s technical exam, an approved training program and a rating test (SASP Part 2, Chapter 6).

The CPL. From 18, with the English used on the radio, a Class 1, the theory exams at CPL or ATPL level, an approved course of flight training and flight tests (CAAS’s CPL page). A graduate of an approved course needs at least 155 hours, including 100 as pilot in command, 20 of them cross-country with one flight of at least 300 nautical miles and landings at two intermediate aerodromes, 5 at night and 10 of instrument instruction; with an instrument rating the figure is 200 hours, and a pilot who has not followed an approved course needs 700 (SASP Part 2, Chapter 4, paragraphs 2, 3 and 5). The flight test, the General Flight Test, is flown with a CAAS inspector or an authorized flight examiner (Chapter 5). The CPL lets you command single-pilot airplanes for public transport and aerial work and fly as co-pilot of a multi-pilot type rated on your license (Chapter 1, paragraph 10; Chapter 6, paragraph 4), but a CPL holder who will fly a multi-pilot type must pass the theory at ATPL level (Chapter 3, paragraph 4). ICAO’s floor is 150 hours on an approved course (step 2 of our overview). Ask your school whether its course is approved.

The MPL, with an airline. From 18, with the same English and Class 1, the theory exams at ATPL level, an approved course and flight tests (CAAS’s MPL page). The course is run by an approved training organization in partnership with a Singapore airline, in four phases, from core flying skills, with a private-license flight test, to type-rating training to that airline’s standard operating procedures, mostly in simulators (AC FCL-9, Revision 3, 6 January 2026). SASP Part 2 asks for at least 240 hours of flying training, of which at least 40 in an airplane, 10 of them as pilot in command, and the MPL test (Chapter 4, paragraph 6). An MPL lets you fly only as co-pilot of an airplane that needs one, never on a single-pilot commercial flight (Chapter 1, paragraph 11; AC FCL-9), and an ATPL upgraded from it stays restricted to multi-crew airplanes (Chapter 4, paragraph 8), so an MPL comes with an airline’s training place, not from a school alone.

The cadet routes. Singapore Airlines recruits Ab Initio Cadet Pilots in Singapore, and its requirements list no flying experience: GCE A levels, a diploma or a degree, or at least five GCE O-level credits, including English, mathematics and a science, taken at one sitting, with the eyesight and height of step 1; the selection runs through stages that include an online application, a computer assessment test, interviews and a medical check-up; cadets train at the Singapore Flying College, in Singapore and overseas, with a monthly allowance, and then train to become a First Officer; the bond is the length of the training plus 7 years from your appointment as First Officer; its pilots page states no nationality or age rule for the cadets, which is among the points we could not confirm; Scoot, SIA’s low-cost airline, runs its cadet program in intakes rather than all year: AFM, an aviation training news site, reported on 28 September 2026 that Scoot had opened applications for its 2026 Cadet Pilot Program, a co-funded course of 18 to 24 months at its preferred training college to an MPL or a frozen ICAO ATPL, then base and line training toward Second Officer or Junior First Officer, with a six-year bond after the training, for applicants at least 18 who will be legally entitled to work in Singapore when they finish, with five GCE O-level credits including English, mathematics and a science; whether it is still taking applications, and the share of the cost you pay, are among the points we could not confirm (checked 7 November 2026). Singapore Airlines had online applications open for its Ab Initio Cadet Pilots in Singapore (checked 30 October 2026). The cadet programs page compares who pays on each airline scheme worldwide.

The ATPL (CAAS’s ATPL page): from 21, with the English used on the radio, a Class 1, the theory exams at ATPL level, the flying experience of SASP Part 2, and a multi-crew aircraft rating held or qualified for. It is the license to command a multi-crew airliner: it is issued only with a rating to command a multi-engine airplane that needs a co-pilot, and an instrument rating (SASP Part 2, Chapter 6, paragraph 22; Chapter 7, paragraph 3). The experience is 1,500 hours as a pilot of airplanes, including 500 as pilot in command under supervision or 250 as pilot in command (up to 150 of them under supervision), 200 cross-country, 100 at night and 75 on instruments (Chapter 4, paragraph 8). Your time as co-pilot of an airplane that needs two pilots counts in full toward the total, and time as pilot in command under supervision once the captain certifies it in your logbook (Appendix B). A pilot whose Singapore CPL or MPL was converted from a foreign license needs 3,000 hours for the ATPL, 500 of them on multi-pilot transport airplanes (paragraph 8A). The commercial and airline transport pilot licenses article explains what separates the two, and the MCC courses article the multi-crew training.

3. The CAAS theory exams, and English

CAAS sets and runs the theory exams: you register and pay for them on the CAAS Examination Portal (CAAS’s license pages), and CAAS’s answer on ask.gov.sg, as search results showed it, says there are no prerequisites to sit them. An ATPL or an MPL takes 14 papers, a CPL 13 and a CPL with an instrument rating 14: Air Law; Airframe, Systems and Engines; Instrumentation; Mass and Balance; Performance; Flight Planning and Monitoring; Human Performance; Meteorology; General Navigation; Radio Navigation; Operational Procedures; Principles of Flight; and VFR and IFR Communications, the last for the instrument-rated licenses only (SASP Part 2, Chapter 3, paragraph 2). You pass a paper with at least 75%, may sit a subject no more than three times in any three months, and keep a pass for 36 months (paragraphs 7, 8 and 10); the technical exam on an aircraft type, taken for each rating, is valid for 18 months (paragraph 11). The syllabus, advisory circular AC FCL-7(2) of 26 July 2019, sets each paper’s learning objectives, questions and time: the 14 ATPL papers for airplanes hold 682 questions over 18 hours 15 minutes in all, the 13 CPL papers 492 over 13 hours 15 minutes. Neither SASP Part 2 nor the syllabus names the language of the papers, so confirm it on the portal before you choose your study material.

v1prep’s ATPL theory banks follow the EASA syllabus, not CAAS’s, though AC FCL-7 numbers its subjects the way EASA’s does (010 Air Law, 050 Meteorology and so on): they cover the same meteorology, navigation, performance and systems, but not Singapore’s air law or CAAS’s question style.

English. Every CAAS license asks for the English used in radiotelephony (its license pages; SASP Part 2, Chapter 1, paragraph 8.1). A professional license is valid only if its holder is certified to at least ICAO Level 4; below Level 6, a holder at Level 4 is evaluated again at least every 3 years and one at Level 5 every 6, and only people the Director-General of Civil Aviation authorizes or accepts may evaluate and certify (paragraphs 8.2 to 8.4). CAAS’s answers on ask.gov.sg, as search results showed them, say the screening is done by CAAS-authorized language screeners at the air operators, the approved training organizations and the flying clubs in Singapore, and that a pilot assessed below the level needed sits the Aviation English Competency Test. The airlines ask for their own level: Singapore Airlines asks direct-entry pilots for ICAO Level 5 or above; Scoot for ICAO Level 4 or higher. The pilot licensing framework article explains the ICAO levels.

4. From license to the first airline job

Both airlines on our board based in Singapore run cadet schemes (step 2), and their published direct-entry First Officer seats ask for experience built elsewhere. Where the doors were at the last check:

• Singapore Airlines takes direct-entry First Officers only with an ATPL and an A350 or A380 type rating that CAAS recognizes or can validate, preferring 3,000 hours as First Officer and considering 1,500, with at least 1,500 on those types; its Second Officer, First Officer and Captain applications were all closed at the last check (checked 30 October 2026).
• Scoot’s Direct Entry First Officer 2026 posting, as job boards’ copies of it showed in search results, asks for more than 1,500 hours of fixed-wing time on airplanes of 5,700 kg or more and a CAAS-issued CPL or ATPL, with no type rating: Scoot trains you on type against a co-payment of the cost and a training bond (checked 7 November 2026).
• Singapore Airlines also lists a Direct Entry Second Officer route, closed at the last check (checked 30 October 2026).

The selection. Scoot’s direct-entry selection, in job boards’ copies of its posting, opens with online aptitude tests, then an assessment center in Singapore with a group exercise and an interview, and a simulator and personality assessment over two days; the cadets’ stages are in step 2. The pilot aptitude tests and recruitment and selection articles explain the stages.

Building the hours. The hours a direct-entry seat asks for are built as a co-pilot at an airline, or first as an instructor: CAAS’s flying instructor ratings are in SASP Part 3, and the flight instructors and examiners article explains the ratings. The pilot jobs with 1,500 hours page lists the airlines that open at that figure, the Second Officer jobs page the seats below First Officer, and the low-hour pilot jobs page every airline on our board that takes First Officers at 500 hours or less.

5. Scoot and Singapore Airlines, and what they ask

The airlines on our jobs board based in Singapore, each as it stood at the date in the last column. Jetstar Asia, the Qantas Group’s Singapore airline, stopped flying on 31 July 2025, and Jetstar’s Singapore base closed with it (checked 22 October 2026). v1prep has question banks for the A320, B737, B787 and E-Jet, and none for the A350, A380 and 777. Our board does not track Singapore’s other operators: check their own careers pages. The Singapore Airlines and Scoot requirements pages set out each airline line by line.

6. Foreign licenses, and pilots from abroad

A Singapore license. To fly a Singapore-registered aircraft you must convert a foreign pilot license to a Singapore one, in two steps (CAAS’s conversion page, last updated on 3 September 2026, read on 25 October 2026). First, an assessment of your eligibility: your foreign license must be valid when you apply and stay valid until the Singapore license is granted, and for a professional license you must show you need one, with evidence of prospective employment in a flying capacity with a Singapore operator, an approved training organization or a flying club. The assessment sets you terms: CAAS examinations, a CAAS medical assessment, a CAAS English language proficiency assessment, flight training if required, and CAAS flight tests. Second, once you meet them all, you apply for the license, which CAAS grants only after the authority that issued your foreign license has verified it. The forms go in on CAPELS and the exams are booked on the Examination Portal; the detail is in SASP Part 2, Chapter 11. Scoot’s posting, in job boards’ copies, asks for a foreign ATPL to be converted to a CAAS license, which needs an instrument rating and a proficiency check valid for at least six months; Singapore Airlines asks for an ATPL and a Class 1 that CAAS recognizes or can validate.

What SASP Part 2 asks of a converting pilot (Chapter 11). The foreign license and its ratings come from one authority, with the theory exams passed with that same authority, and CAAS advises at least six months of validity left when you apply. A Singapore CPL needs a foreign CPL or ATPL and 200 hours, and a pilot who passed only CPL-level theory abroad is restricted to single-pilot flying until he or she passes CAAS’s ATPL-level exams; a Singapore ATPL needs a foreign ATPL, an instrument rating and 3,000 hours, 500 of them on multi-pilot transport airplanes. A pilot whose rating is valid or lapsed for no more than five years, with 700 hours, 200 of them in command or under supervision, 100 cross-country and 50 on instruments, sits only Air Law, Operational Procedures, Human Performance and Performance, the last two unless an equivalent pass abroad is shown (and Performance not at all for an ATPL), and the technical exam on the type unless current on it (paragraph 14). The training for the rating then depends on how current you are on the type, from two simulator sessions to a multi-crew cooperation course and a full type rating (paragraph 17). Foreign military flying hours do not count, and foreign military pilots are not accepted for conversion; Chapter 12 credits the hours of pilots of the Republic of Singapore Air Force in current flying practice, who still complete approved flight training before the flight tests.

A foreign license can also be validated instead of converted, but only for set purposes, such as private flights, delivery and ferry flights, your own training, or instruction, tests and line training for an operator bringing in a new type, for six months at most (three for private flights), and not on public transport flights except that line training (SASP Part 2, Chapter 9): it is not a way into an airline seat. CAAS’s Information Circular 3/2021 (26 January 2021), a pandemic measure for Singapore citizens with a professional license who had been laid off by a foreign airline, let them train and test at CAAS-approved training organizations at their own cost; it notes that a converting pilot normally finds a job with a Singapore operator first, which arranges the training, the tests and the aircraft, that exam results count toward the license only within 36 months of the pass, and that a conversion does not guarantee a job.

The right to work. A license is not a work permit, and the right to work in Singapore is a separate, immigration question. Among the points we could not confirm: whether Singapore Airlines arranges an employment pass for its direct-entry pilots (checked 30 October 2026); whether Scoot arranges one for a foreign pilot, though its earlier postings, which search results dated 2022, asked for the legal right to work in Singapore (checked 7 November 2026). The visa sponsorship page lists the airlines on our board that say they sponsor one.

Singaporeans flying abroad. Reuters reported on 6 December 2025 that Allegiant Air, in the United States, employed about 62 pilots from Chile, Australia and Singapore on H-1B1 and E-3 visas, under a program begun in 2023, while job boards’ copies of its posting say it sponsors no visa, so whether it still recruits that way is among the points we could not confirm (checked 23 October 2026). The FAA and EASA licenses compared sets the two largest systems side by side, and a license from either would still need converting at home.

7. Money and time

Before you sign for any course, ask what the price includes (the theory course, CAAS’s exam and license fees, the flying, the flight tests, the Class 1, accommodation abroad and the type rating), what a bond costs you if you leave, and what happens to the money you have paid if you, or the school, stop. Singapore Airlines says it recruits directly, uses no agencies and asks no fee to process an application, so apply only through its own careers page.

Common questions

How do you become an airline pilot in Singapore? Get a Class 1 medical from a Designated Aviation Medical Examiner, then train either on an airline cadet scheme or on an approved course: a CPL needs an age of 18, CAAS’s theory exams, at least 155 hours on an approved course and a flight test, and an MPL is trained with a Singapore airline, with at least 240 hours of flying training. Either lets you fly as co-pilot of an airliner whose type is on your license; command needs the ATPL, from the age of 21 and 1,500 hours (SASP Part 2). Singapore Airlines had online applications open for its Ab Initio Cadet Pilots in Singapore at its last check.

How much does it cost to become a pilot in Singapore? We could not read two Singapore schools’ published price lists, so this page quotes no training price. Singapore Airlines’ pilots page states no course fee for its Ab Initio Cadet Pilots, pays them a monthly allowance during training and binds them to service through the training and for 7 years from appointment as First Officer. Scoot’s 2026 cadet program, as AFM reported it, is co-funded, with your share not published, and binds cadets for six years after the training. CAAS charges S$141.70, including GST, for each Class 1 application, and the examiner charges a fee of its own. Ask every school and airline what its price includes and what a bond costs you if you leave.

Does Singapore Airlines have a cadet pilot program? Singapore Airlines recruits Ab Initio Cadet Pilots in Singapore, and its requirements list no flying experience: GCE A levels, a diploma or a degree, or at least five GCE O-level credits, including English, mathematics and a science, taken at one sitting, with the eyesight and height of step 1; the selection runs through stages that include an online application, a computer assessment test, interviews and a medical check-up; cadets train at the Singapore Flying College, in Singapore and overseas, with a monthly allowance, and then train to become a First Officer; the bond is the length of the training plus 7 years from your appointment as First Officer; its pilots page states no nationality or age rule for the cadets, which is among the points we could not confirm. Singapore Airlines had online applications open for its Ab Initio Cadet Pilots in Singapore at the last check, on 30 October 2026.

Can I convert a foreign pilot license in Singapore? Yes, in two steps. First an assessment of eligibility: your foreign license must stay valid throughout, and for a professional license you need evidence of prospective employment in a flying capacity with a Singapore operator, an approved training organization or a flying club. The terms it sets are CAAS examinations, a CAAS medical assessment, a CAAS English language proficiency assessment, flight training if required and CAAS flight tests; then you apply for the license, which CAAS grants once the authority that issued yours has verified it. A Singapore ATPL by conversion needs a foreign ATPL and 3,000 hours, 500 of them on multi-pilot transport airplanes, and a Singapore CPL 200 hours (SASP Part 2, Chapter 11).

What English level do pilots need in Singapore? At least ICAO Level 4 for a professional license, re-evaluated every 3 years at Level 4 and every 6 at Level 5 (SASP Part 2, Chapter 1); a pilot screened below the level needed sits the Aviation English Competency Test, by CAAS’s answers on ask.gov.sg as search results showed them. The airlines ask for their own level: Singapore Airlines asks direct-entry pilots for ICAO Level 5 or above; Scoot for ICAO Level 4 or higher.