UK CAA or EASA ATPL

[JAJOBR]

Hello everyone,

I am at a bit of a crossroads as to which way to go, I currently hold a UK CAA PPL and am in the middle of converting that to an EASA PPL, I have EU and British citizenship. My question is which would be the better option. EASA or UK CAA ATPL. I wanted to do EASA as I would like to work in Europe however I only speak English, I am wondering wether its better to stay in the UK in terms of employability now as I have heard that most companies in Europe require the language of the country as well.

any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

[CurlyB]

Por qué no los dos?

[allert]

The answer is simple - do both. No one can predict the future, so when coming out of a flight school your goal should be making yourself as employable as possible. If you have the luxury of both, UK and EU passports then why shoot yourself in the foot and get only one license. The language requirement is something questionable (unless you're applying to Lufthansa or Swiss), so I wouldn't worry about that just yet. Ryanair require an EASA license and use English in the company.

I agree, that means sitting double the ATPL exams, which will cost a bit more plus the extra IR test, but in your situation I'd try to cover as many bases as possible.

[AlwaysWondering]

Allert is totally right. Both is the most sensible option in the current climate and allows you to keep all doors open. This is the case for UK only citizens. As someone with dual EU/UK citizenship, it would be foolish not to.
Language is an issue for some airlines, but not an issue for many more. In this business, you need to keep as many doors open as possible.

Doing both sets of ATPLs adds very little to the cost in the grand scheme of things. As little as £1300 or so. It's a bit of extra difficulty (the UK has write-ins for example), but the difficulty added is minimal. If you study somewhere like Bristol Ground School, you can do them on the same week in the same building. This is what you need to aim for so you only need to study each subject once. Several other places offer the same option.

For the CPL/ ME-IR, there are dual approved schools which offer options. Though the UK IR skills test must be done in UK airspace and the EASA one in EASA airspace. I do know some schools have the option of doing the test in the UK, flying to France as a ferry flight, doing the test in France, and ferrying the plane back. Same plane, same examiner, and following regulations. Others will be better positioned to give info on the extra cost.
Though you should be able to do the ATPLs and extra tests for less than £5/6k.

[JAJOBR]

Thank you allert,
I think I will do Dual then to widen my options post-training I was told by quite a few other pilots just to do EASA as its larger job market and then once you reach 1500 hrs you can very easily convert but it looks like it would be best to do both.
Thanks again.

[allert]

Originally Posted by JAJOBR

Thank you allert,
I think I will do Dual then to widen my options post-training I was told by quite a few other pilots just to do EASA as its larger job market and then once you reach 1500 hrs you can very easily convert but it looks like it would be best to do both.
Thanks again.

EASA is a larger job market, but what that means is that you’ll be competing with more people. Plus, whilst it may seem easy to convert now before having started the ATPLs, after 1500hrs flying it’ll highly likely be more challenging to sit the 13 exams again. Better to do it all at once now to save you bothering later on. Best of luck!