Airline Transport Pilot Licence
The highest pilot licence — required to command a multi-crew airliner. We’ll help you plan the route from CPL to captain.
About the course
Command an airliner
The ATPL lets you act as pilot-in-command or co-pilot in commercial air transport, including multi-pilot airliners. It sits at the top of the licensing ladder, after the CPL and a multi-engine Instrument Rating.
Most pilots study the ATPL theory early — a pass stays valid for five years as long as your CPL is valid — and then build the experience in commercial flying jobs. We’ll help you plan each step, from theory to the multi-crew course and skill test.
What it lets you do
- All the privileges of the PPL, CPL and Instrument Rating
- Pilot-in-command or co-pilot in commercial air transport, including multi-pilot aircraft
- Act as a line training instructor within an operator’s approved training programme
Before you start
- Be at least 21
- A Class 1 medical
- English at ICAO Level 4
- A Zimbabwean CPL with a multi-engine Instrument Rating (or a qualifying foreign ATPL or CPL/IR)
- A multi-crew cooperation (MCC) course
Minimum experience
| Total flight time | 1,500 hrs |
|---|---|
| Pilot-in-command under supervision | 500 hrs (or 250 hrs PIC) |
| Cross-country | 200 hrs |
| Instrument time | 75 hrs |
| Night | 100 hrs |
Minimums from the Civil Aviation (Personnel Licensing) Regulations, 2019 (S.I. 176 of 2019), Eighteenth Schedule. Of the cross-country time, at least 100 hrs as PIC or supervised co-pilot; no more than 30 hrs of instrument time in a simulator.
Your training journey
How the course runs
CPL & ME IR
Hold a Commercial Pilot Licence with a multi-engine Instrument Rating.
ATPL theory
Pass the CAAZ ATPL knowledge exams — valid for five years while your CPL stays valid.
Build experience
Gain the 1,500 hours, typically while flying commercially as a CPL holder.
MCC & skill test
Complete a multi-crew cooperation course, then an IFR skill test in a multi-crew aircraft over 5,700 kg or a Level D simulator.
Ground school
Airline-level theory
Exams & test
CAAZ sets the knowledge exams and the pass mark is 75%. Exams are written at CAAZ Head Office, Harare International Airport, and are moving to CAAZ’s computer-based PEXO system. ATPL passes stay valid for 5 years while your CPL is valid.
Skill test: flown as pilot-in-command in a multi-crew situation on an IFR cross-country, in a multi-engine aircraft of at least 5,700 kg or a Level D full flight simulator. It can double as your type-rating proficiency check.
Afterwards: the licence is valid for 5 years; renew it with 6 hours and 6 take-offs and landings in the previous 6 months.
Why it matters
Trained to understand, not just to pass
“In the absence of all other standards, maintain your own.” — the standard we hold ourselves to.
A licence is the start, not the goal. What counts is how you handle the moment something doesn’t go to plan — and that comes down to how deeply you were trained.
Over the years, Guthrie-trained pilots have gone on to fly for — and reach the senior levels of — some of the world’s most recognised airlines, including Cathay Pacific, Emirates and Qatar Airways, and to serve as chief pilots for corporate operators and private families.
Training at Charles Prince (FVCP)
Mentored by airline-experienced pilots
Our team includes an American ATP licence holder with corporate-jet experience, and pilots with time from microlights to the Boeing 747.
Guthrie graduates fly for Emirates, Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific, British Airways, Qantas, Delta, FedEx and many others.
A CAAZ Approved Training Organisation (certificate 0006), also approved by the Ministry of Higher Education (0162/98). Training here since 1995.
Questions
Frequently asked
Can I sit the ATPL exams before I have 1,500 hours?
Yes. Your ATPL theory passes stay valid for five years as long as your CPL remains valid, so most pilots pass them early.
Do I need a multi-engine rating?
Yes — the Zimbabwean route requires a CPL with a multi-engine Instrument Rating before the ATPL.
What is MCC?
Multi-crew cooperation training teaches you to work as part of a two-pilot crew — communication, task sharing and crew resource management. It’s required for the ATPL.
I hold a foreign ATPL. Can I fly in Zimbabwe?
CAAZ can validate a foreign ATPL — with exams in Air Law, Flight Planning, Meteorology and Operational Procedures — or convert it. Experience requirements apply. Ask us for the details.
Request information
Ask us about the ATPL
Tell us where you are now and what you’d like to achieve. We’ll come back with the next intake, a training plan and costs.
Keep going
Related courses
Plan your route to the left seat
Tell us where you are now and we’ll map out the steps to your ATPL.