Are UK airlines pushing for the UK CAA to recognise EASA licences.
 

Hi,

I've heard rumours about the UK CAA recognising EASA Licences in the near future (2026), however I'm not too Sure about how true this is. The rumours I have heard so far is that UK airlines such as EZY are beginning to train their SIM pilots to not only be able to asses UK pilots but also EASA licensed pilots. Obviously, if this is true it does not necessarily mean that the UK CAA will accept EASA licences, but in combination with other rumours from a few reputable sources in EZY/ EJU such as many UK airlines putting pressure on the UK CAA to recognise EASA Licenses, due to the current UK pilot shortage, makes it sound pretty promising. However, I have also heard that there is not a Pilot shortage in the UK, so I'm not too sure what to believe. With aviations current growth, globally and in the UK, with runway expansions in LHR and LGW and increase in demand for pilots I can only assume that the UK will require more pilots than they can currently train. I am currently based in the Europe and have the right to work in Both the UK and Europe, however I only have a EASA Licence and would like to be based in the UK, and therefore feel as though I may be too hopeful when hearing these rumours. Therefore I wanted to ask the community If they have heard any news regarding this.

IMHO that's unlikely to happen unless all EU member states agree to recognise CAA licences – which some of them will refuse to do, for political reasons.

I have read some news articles, and seen that company's such as One Air have pleaded with the UK Gov to take aviation into consideration when making a bilateral agreement between the UK and EU to allow either recognition of the EASA licences or the possibility of a shorter route (a human performance, Airlaw exam and a skill test). This was raised in parliament from a Local MP in September 2024 to which the response was, "There is mutual interest in this area, and it could be a solid basis for negotiation" and that "it is a priority for us". which again seems promising.

The UK could have remained in EASA post Brexit but that would have upset the right wing of the Conservative party.

I can't see it happening anytime soon, so if you want to work in the UK Route 6 is your way (assuming you currently have a non UK ATPL):

https://www.caa.co.uk/commercial-ind...-january-2023/

Another Brexit benefit- a complete and total waste of money what possible use or value was there in not remaining in EASA

It was dogma - EASA is ultimately overseen by a European court, and that was deemed to be unacceptable by the "purist" Brexiteers.

Ho hum.

It's all BS! The regulators, both CAA and EASA in 2008 were happy to exchange UK CAA licences for EASA licences then, just because of Brexit 'Another licence to print money' ha! Another waste of money! It's about time FAA, CAA, EASA in the Northern Hemisphere and the like of CASA and NZ CAA in the Southern Hemisphere sort this out. You have pilots working for Cathay and Emirates and other outfits who's credentials are not even accepted in some of these countries. It costs the individual $$$$ to obtain and jump through all the hoops!!

This isn’t just aviation licences in isolation. This is being looked at as a huge topic involving the acceptance of professional qualifications across many fields. Accountancy, Law, etc.
This is all part of a huge reset in relations between the UK and the EU. It may or may not happen. But even if it does, it doesn’t mean you can come to the UK and work easily, you would still need the right to come and live and work in the UK, similarly with the EU, or national member state.

It won't happen. You can work in EU or UK if you want it's just a paperwork admin exercise now. You would also need either UK or EU to be in desperate short supply of pilots to need the foreign nationals, which there is no short supply. Also, a shortage of pilots is easy enough to spot in the future and training pilots takes 2 years which is probably not much faster than the stupid paperwork to hire a foreign national. So it makes sense to just fund your own pilots rather than sort out visa and licenses for a foreigner.

There is a definite short supply of good quality candidates for both seats. UK airlines are struggling to manage expansion plans and recruit at the same time and lobbying is going on to allow EU licenced people access to the UK employment market without having to jump through all the mess of converting licence. It is likely to be a one way street only as the EU is supposed to not want 'reciprocal rights' but this appeals to the companies and government in the UK as it supresses above inflationary pay rises and terms/conditions, aims to keep inflation low if possible - and also is better for the companies as keeps the bottom line and more profitable operations for them.

Since Brexit the U.K. has allowed lots without reciprocal movement on the EU side , UK doesn’t care about home grown pilots . Ryanair already have pilots flying in the U.K. with ICAO licenses . Well I’d be surprised if they joined EASA in the near future but not surprised if easyJet are allowed to get 2 year validations for EU pilots to work
in the U.K. . It’s all politics for sure but one sided I think

To be fair, there are only 15 or 16 G reg Ryanair 737's operating in the UK, the rest are all EI, 9H or even some SP ones. As to visa's well that's a different matter

I’ve heard the same chatter - some UK airlines are indeed getting their simulator instructors ready to assess EASA pilots, but there’s been no official nod from the CAA yet. It makes sense with the pilot crunch, but until the CAA actually publishes something, it’s still just talk. I’d keep an eye on the CAA news page or drop a line to your training manager for any updates.

Genuine question from an interested PPL with some sim experience (NG and Airbus).

What are the major differences when EU pilots do sim training compared to UK pilots?

And is that a bad thing?
If I want to work for a French Airline I need to speak French, same with Spain, Germany, Italy etc, obviously not having the right to reside and work is an issue.

I wonder what BALPA think?

"What are the major differences when EU pilots do sim training compared to UK pilots?"

Admin only. It's possible that with time the UK CAA might diverge from EASA but right now the content is the same. if you want some light hearted entertainment, download the EASA Differences Document (published quarterly) then choose six different NAAs at random and see how the admin requirements vary for LST or LPC. When working as a TRE in an EASA airline with 20+ nationalities the admin was the most challenging part (along with the fact that frequently I was the only native English speaker in the room and the two candidates could be of different nationalities being examined in their second language with no first language in common!).

Has the new UK EU deal had any impact on cross recognition of licences ?

This would be great also for an (admittedly small) subset of British pilots who trained outside the UK but were unable to qualify in time to take advantage of the transition period to obtain UK CAA licenses without the financial, time and huge effort hit of having to retake basically the entirety of an ATPL licensing course. As one such person, the only benefit of the current situation that I can see is that the CAA get to charge me a large amount of money in exam and admin fees if I ever want to operate a G-reg aircraft commercially, despite the fact that I currently operate EASA reg aircraft commercially out of the UK.

Some people will bleat about how the CAA recognizing EASA licenses gives unfair advantage to Europeans holding them, but does it? Surely the control of labour should be through employment visas, not professional licenses. Any lack of enough British pilots to fill airline positions is almost entirely a result of the prohibitive cost of training in the UK to get a CAA license. The CAA being able to issue a like for like license on the basis of holding an EASA one would allow more Brits to train more cost effectively in Europe, then come back to work in the UK, without having to worry about the cost of "dual licensing" courses.

... meant the UK CAA remaining only as a 'local admin office' of EASA with the UK having no say in how that 'admin' is directed.

Struggling for jobs in the Netherlands?

and that would have been completely non-problematic, as the CAA was, is, and will continue to operate in close alignment with EASA aviation standards, seeing as it helped to create the vast majority of them when it was a member of EASA, and because a lot of them are seen as 'best practice'. A similar arrangement works perfectly well for Norway and Switzerland...

or, you know, we could have ignored the non-binding vote that only half the country participated in and just stayed as a major player in the rule making of the EU... but I digress....

I agree, it's now much more efficient, copy-pasting EASA regulations with a few years of delay, and including "refer to [relevant] EASA manual" in them.

The UK currently has 4 fully funded schemes for cadets, which arguably provides the ultimate affordable route in to aviation.

Not a Brexit fan at all, but let’s not pretend that the tightening of pilot supply in the UK that it has caused (both through right to work and licensing) has done anything other than improve things for the vast majority of low hour or aspiring pilots in the UK.

So if you're one of the lucky 100 or so out of 22,000 (for the Speedbird Academy), your costs are covered... the chances of getting your training costs fully funded by an airline are still vanisingly small... lets not pretend the tightening of supply has suddenly turned the UK into a land of milk and honey for the vast majority of aspiring pilots in the UK.

The UK CAA issues, what, about 1200 CPLs a year? Speedbird Academy is 200 places in 2025, TUI are taking 30, Jet2 are hoping for 60, I’ve no idea what DHL UK aim for so I’ll say 10 for round figures, but nearly 300 fully funded places is 25% of the current CPLs issued annually in the UK.

The UK isn’t some panacea, but it seems a lot better right now than it has been for many many years in terms of funded schemes.

That is as it may be, and I'm not disputing it, but the CAA also recognising EASA licenses and issuing equivalents without needing to essentially re-do the entire thing, would make the situation even better, especially for those not lucky enough to get onto a fully funded course (aka the other 75%).

….yes, it seems so, but that just reflects that a UK licence is not valuable or desirable any more, as it limits an individual to a small number of employers on one miserable rock in the east Atlantic. On that rock, the vast majority of airliners are registered elsewhere, regardless of where they actually roost at night. Brexit benefit indeed.

The vast majority of airliners based in the UK are UK registered. Now that you can't live and work in the EU it doesn't matter anyway.

Very few licenses are useful once you leave that country. As I said you can't work in the EU so I don't know what you are angry about.

Oh, the irony….

What world are you living in???

A "small number of employers"?? In one of the world's largest airline industries? (The third largest?)

Please give evidence of "the vast majority of airliners are registered elsewhere". You won't be able to, because your claim is nonsense.

Speed_Trim_Fail has made it clear about the large demand (need?) that there is for pilots in Britain and all of those jobs are for British licenced pilots on British registered aeroplanes.

It appears very much that pilots are wanting British licences, because this is where the jobs are.

As someone who has been through the entire process of resitting all the exams and redoing flight tests to gain a licence in another country (with almost identical syllabi), the advice that I can give to anyone wanting a UK CAA licence is to knuckle down, get studying and do the hard work needed for the exams and flight tests to gain that licence. If you want that job, it is worth the effort. I know, I have done so.

You don't have to be a pilot - and other 'miserable rocks' are available

No job is worth this effort anymore. Why would I waste my time and money and resit 13 ATPL exams which are of the exact same syllabus than the EASA ones? And then they want me to sit some flight tests when I have flown an airliner for over 10 years. Money grabbing c words!

And it doesn't grind your gears that this is the case? Especially when you could go to EK, QR, CX, SIA (the list goes on) and just have your FAA/CAA/EASA ATPL converted with in most cases a couple of exams and the fact that you've been flying a commercial airliner around for over a specified amount of hours?

Here's the thing, I already fly a CS25 narrow-body jet all around Europe based out of the UK, on an EASA license. I already have the job. The CAA is just telling me that I can't have that job on a G-reg aircraft, without requalifying, which is frankly absurd.

Beyond that, I wouldn't have the job if it hadn't been for the fact that prices to train in many parts of Europe are significantly lower than the UK, so I have great sympathy for the aspiring pilots not lucky enough to score a fully funded scholarship who have to find alternate ways of funding their training in the frankly hostile to anyone but the very wealthy or incredibly healthy credit rating world of the UK training ecosystem.

Exactly :mad:

So much so that BA and Virgin are willing to sponsor visas for pilots coming from outside of the UK, if they are able to get a UK license, which could be through any of the routes, some of which are significantly easier than others, just by virtue of when you happened to sit your ATPL exams and take your skills tests for the CPL and IR.... note, not through any regulatory or curricula/standards differences, just an arbitary date. Why should it be easy and cheap for some, and difficult and expensive for others? And how does the above situation help British pilots secure jobs in the UK, when airlines are happy and can presumably show cause to apply for visas for non-nationals?

Cut off our nose…..
 

Richpea, you’re applying logic, that’ll never do!
No one thought through or in many cases had zero idea of the implications We can’t accept pilots, maintained parts or part 66 licences from EASA.
Operators who split fleets in an effort to manage the issues, managing frames with a G and EASA reg; Now because of ongoing logistics issues, where parts were regularly moved between frames, now it’s impossible, removing flexibility, adding time and cost, it can be done but it involves more bureaucracy and cost, not for safeties sake, it’s only for compliances’ sake. Companies like TUI, where in the past frames could be shifted anywhere within EASA land to support a program, this now can’t happen without a re-registration, the number of CofA’s to facilitate this, has gone through the roof.
Brexit truly keeps on giving.

Thanks for your spirited contribution — your unwavering faith in British aviation independence has certainly taken centre stage.

To clarify, there’s no shortage of pilot jobs in the Netherlands or across Europe. I started this thread simply to ask if anyone had heard updates on whether the UK CAA might reconsider recognising EASA licences — not to spark a referendum-style debate on sovereignty or the virtues of going it alone.

That said, if we must touch on Brexit’s impact: the goal, as I understood it, was to strengthen domestic capability and keep things “in-house.” Yet, both the BA Speedbird Academy and Jet2’s Flightpath programme are sending cadets to train at FTE Jerez in Spain — apparently a more viable option than anything currently offered in the “world-leading” UK.

Leaving EASA has also made the UK a less attractive place for aircraft registration. Unsurprisingly, airlines prefer the benefits of a harmonised system over the charm of regulatory isolation. This shift reduces opportunities for the UK in areas like maintenance, inspections, and tax revenue — but at least we’ve reclaimed control.

In short, I was after licensing news, not a nationalism masterclass — though the detour has been enlightening.

Obtaining a UK CAA License (on the back of ones 'foreign' license) is one thing... but also required is the right to live & work in the UK (assuming that's where the G reg aircraft that one's going to fly is based) and obtaining the former does not, necessarily, beget the latter.