Deciding what route to take as a student pilot can be confusing and require extensive research. So, we’ve broken down the two major licenses and how to convert from one to the other.
First off, you may be wondering what these abbreviations stand for. ATPL is an Airline Transport Pilot License while CPL is a Commercial Pilot License. Both pathways are pretty similar, but there are one or two major differences.
For one, the ATPL is an integrated course and the CPL is modular. Another big difference is the time required to obtain each license.
In terms of rank, the ATPL is actually the optimum license, so you wouldn’t want to convert from ATPL to CPL. Rather you’d convert from CPL to ATPL.
To attain the ATPL, you are required to complete at least 1, 500 hours of flight time. Of these hours, at least 500 of them need to be in a multi-crew aircraft. Although most airlines will prefer around 2, 500 hours of flight experience before a pilot could become a commander.
Once you have completed the required extra hours, you are able to upgrade their CPL to an ATPL.