What Is an ATPL? The Airline Transport Pilot Licence Explained

September 2026 · 6 min read · Sky Team Aviation Academy

This guide explains what the letters ATPL stand for, where the licence sits on the pilot licence ladder, what it is built on, and what it takes to hold one. Every hour, subject, exam and duration figure on this page comes from Sky Team’s approved course values, and the 1,500-hour total is the ICAO standard; none is an estimate or a market average.

ATPL is the abbreviation for Airline Transport Pilot Licence. Sky Team’s own ATPL course page spells it Airline Transport Pilot License; both spellings name the same licence.

It is the sixth and last stage of Sky Team’s pilot licence route: the private licence, the night rating, the instrument rating, the multi-engine rating, the commercial licence, and then the ATPL. At Sky Team it is not a course anyone starts from zero. It sits on top of the commercial licence, and it requires 1,500 flight hours, 6 theory subjects and their written exams.

Its hour total is the largest on the route: 1,500 hours, against 200 for the commercial licence. Its theory also completes the route’s subjects: 19 subjects are covered by the end of the commercial stage, and the 6 ATPL subjects bring the total across all stages to 25.

To compare the private, commercial and airline transport licences side by side, see our guide to the difference between PPL, CPL and ATPL.

The entry requirement for the ATPL at Sky Team is a valid commercial pilot licence (CPL) with an instrument rating (IR), plus the ATPL theory. On top of that come the flight hours, the theory exams, a medical certificate, a minimum level of English and the other licence requirements listed on the ATPL course page.

Under the ICAO standard the ATPL needs 1,500 hours of total flight time. On Sky Team’s route four minimums sit inside that total, and all of them have to be met:

Read the table as a set of conditions, not a sum. The 1,500 hours include everything flown since the first lesson, including the 200 hours of the commercial licence. A pilot with 1,500 hours in total but fewer than 500 as pilot in command has not yet met the requirement. Adding the rows together produces a total that no requirement asks for.

• Theory. 6 subjects with 6 written exams, which bring the total across the whole route to 25 subjects.
• English. ICAO English language proficiency, Level 4 minimum, is required, the same level that applies across Sky Team’s whole route.
• Medical. On Sky Team’s route a Class 2 medical certificate covers the private licence and night rating stages, and a Class 1 certificate is required from the instrument rating onwards, which includes the ATPL. Confirm the medical requirements with the authority that will issue your licence, or with a designated aviation medical examiner (AME), before you commit.
• Issue. The licence itself is issued once the hours are complete and the issuing authority’s conditions are met.

The requirements, subjects and structure of Sky Team’s own ATPL programme are set out on the ATPL course page.

A “frozen ATPL” is not a licence stage of its own: Sky Team’s route has no frozen stage between the commercial licence and the ATPL. The term describes a pilot who holds a commercial licence with an instrument rating and has passed the ATPL theory, but has not yet reached the 1,500 hours the full licence requires. The commercial licence is completed at 200 hours in total; the ATPL needs 1,500.

The licence “unfreezes”, meaning it becomes a full ATPL, once the hours are complete and the issuing authority’s conditions are met.

These are the stages that lead to the ATPL, in the order of Sky Team’s approved course values:

1. Private pilot licence (PPL). The first stage after enrolment, with 8 theory subjects, 8 written exams and a skill test.
2. The ratings. The night rating, then the instrument rating, then the multi-engine rating.
3. Commercial pilot licence (CPL). 200 hours of flight time in total, 8 written exams and the CPL check, with 12–18 months counted cumulatively from the start of training. At this point you hold the licence the ATPL is built on.
4. The ATPL stage. The 6 theory subjects and their written exams, which take 12–18 months at Sky Team depending on the student’s pace, and the flying that takes your total to 1,500 hours, with at least 500 as pilot in command inside it.
5. The licence. Issued once the hours are complete and the issuing authority’s conditions are met.

For fees, see our guide to how much it costs to become a pilot.