Hi NYCSavage,
Firstly I believe a quick explanation of the different flavours of the Private Pilots Licence, otherwise known as a PPL, is in order.
There is an International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) that has created International Standards for Flight Crew Licencing as well as other areas of aviation.
Now the ICAO do not issue licences themselves. Instead individual countries, or collection of countries, choose whether or not their own Flight Crew licencing will be based upon the ICAO standards or not.
Most, if not all, countries flight crew licences are based upon the ICAO standards.
So from this we can deduce that a JAA PPL is a European version of the ICAO PPL. Similarly the FAA PPL is the American version of the ICAO PPL. As is the South African, Canadian, Australian... I think you get the picture... as long as the country in which you have your licence issued has based it upon the ICAO PPL then that is what you'll have in its many disguises.
If. for example, you obtain an FAA PPL in the USA. This is an ICAO PPL. You'll be able to use the PPL in N Reg aircraft anywhere in the world and our own CAA in the UK also allows you to use your FAA (or any other ICAO) PPL in G Registerered aeroplanes... so yes you can use it back home.
So armed with your ICAO PPL (be it an FAA PPL, JAA PPL etc) then what do you need to do to be able to be paid to fly on UK registered aeroplanes?
You'll need a JAA CPL and if you want to do more than instructing, banner towing etc, then you'll also require an IR.
To obtain a JAA CPL/IR you'll need to complete a knowledge course. As you are aiming eventually for the airlines then you'll need to do the JAA ATPL Theoretical Course which has 14 exams associated with it. To start an JAA ATPL Theoretical Course you require an ICAO PPL. Any country PPL will do as long as it conforms to ICAO.
Once you have your ATPL exams all passed then you'll have to ensure you have at least 150 hours total time including 100 hours of pilot in command time. Once you have this you undertake the JAA CPL flight course and flight test. Once this is passed you'll have an JAA CPL.
To be able fly freight then an IR is an absolute must nowadays. You'll need to undergo flight training for the JAA IR and undertake the flight test.
Once this is passed you'll be a JAA CPL/IR.
This is also the basic licence you require to apply to the airlines. But the airlines also expect you to have a few more hours than the minimum and normally a Multi Crew Co-Operation Course completed (MCC).
Hope this helps.
Best wishes,
Charlie Zulu.