Integrated or modular: two routes to the same EASA licence
Part-FCL, the European rulebook for pilot licensing, allows two ways to train for a commercial licence. The licence at the end is the same. An airline recruiter reads the same qualifications on your CV either way. The differences are in how the training is organised and paid for.
What you are training for
The entry qualification for a European airline is usually described as a "frozen ATPL": a Commercial Pilot Licence, an Instrument Rating, a multi-engine rating, passes in the ATPL theory exams and a multi-crew cooperation course. The full Airline Transport Pilot Licence follows later, once you have 1,500 hours of flight time including 500 in multi-pilot operations, and are at least 21.
Integrated
One approved course at one school, full time, from no experience to the frozen ATPL. Part-FCL sets a minimum of 195 hours of flying training, part of which may be in a simulator, and 750 hours of theory for the integrated ATP course. The school plans the sequence and you follow it.
- Suits: students who can study full time and want a single structured programme.
- Watch: the price is usually committed to one school early. If that school has difficulties, your money and your course are in the same place.
Modular
The same qualifications taken as separate courses: Private Pilot Licence, hour building, ATPL theory (at least 650 hours of instruction), CPL, instrument and multi-engine ratings, then the multi-crew course. For the CPL, a modular student needs 200 hours of total flight time, including 100 as pilot in command.
- Suits: students who need to pay stage by stage, work alongside training, or choose a different school for different stages.
- Watch: the planning is yours. Gaps between modules cost currency and money, and a training record spread across several schools needs to be kept in order.
What does not differ
- The theory exams: the same 13 subjects, the same pass mark, the same time limits.
- The skill tests, flown with an examiner to the same standard.
- The Class 1 medical.
- The licence that is issued.
How to decide
Ask three questions. Can you study full time for about two years? How much of the total budget are you willing to commit before training has been delivered? And do you want one school to plan everything, or a plan that can move between schools?
FlyEASA coordinates a modular route in seven stages, from PPL training to a B737 or A320 type rating, with the responsible school confirmed for each stage and payment following each completed milestone. The planning burden that normally falls on a modular student is the part we take on. How it works has the detail.
