Choosing professional pilot training is a major decision. Admission, medical certificate, funding, the course itself, life in Crete and the route into an airline: here are the answers to the questions our future students and their families ask most.
24 questions
The Airline Pilot programme has three intakes a year: March, September and November.
Applications and selection run throughout the year, subject to the places available for each intake.
We recommend applying early, so that you have the time you need to complete the admission steps, obtain your Class 1 medical certificate and, where necessary, put your funding in place.
Our Admissions team will help you identify the intake best suited to your situation.
No previous flying experience is required. What we look for above all are motivated candidates with the aptitude to follow a demanding professional training programme.
Admission is based on a review of your application and on a selection process that assesses your reasoning ability, your motivation, your level of English and your capacity to follow the programme.
You do not need to be a pilot already, or to have logged any flying hours, in order to apply.
Our aim is also to identify your strengths and the areas where you will need to progress, both before and during your training.
Selection allows us to assess your aptitude, your motivation and your ability to complete professional pilot training successfully.
Once you have applied, our team reviews your file and guides you through each stage of the selection process.
Assessments cover reasoning ability, English, motivation and how clearly you understand the career you are committing to.
We are not looking for pilots who are already trained. We are looking for candidates with the potential and the commitment to succeed.
Training is delivered in English, so that you are working in aviation's international environment from day one.
English is the working language of international aviation, which is why it sits at the centre of our training.
You do not need to be bilingual when you arrive, but you do need a level that allows you to follow the course, and a readiness to progress quickly.
Daily immersion in English, in the classroom and during flight operations alike, steadily builds the fluency you need in an international professional environment.
We recommend taking your Class 1 medical examination as early as possible in your project.
The Class 1 medical certificate is an essential step for any future professional pilot.
Waiting times at some aeromedical centres can be long, so we advise starting this process as soon as your training project becomes concrete.
Our team can guide you through the steps and point you to the centres where the examination can be carried out.
Contact us quickly. We will look at the options with you and, wherever possible, avoid delaying your start.
Waiting times for an appointment at an aeromedical centre can sometimes be significant.
If you have been unable to take your examination in time, contact our Admissions team. We can direct you to other centres in France or elsewhere in Europe with earlier availability.
Where possible, we can also arrange group appointments with partner centres.
So do not postpone your project before speaking to us.
The Airline Pilot programme is designed to take you step by step from your first flights to being ready for an airline.
Training runs over approximately 18 months and alternates between theoretical knowledge, flight training, simulator work and preparation for professional operations.
The pace is deliberately demanding, so that you are progressively placed in the working conditions and standards you will meet in your future career.
Your course leads to the European licences and ratings needed to begin a career as a professional pilot.
The programme covers each stage of the professional route: ATPL theoretical knowledge, flight training, CPL, multi-engine and instrument ratings, together with the additional training included in the curriculum.
These licences and ratings are issued within the European regulatory framework that applies to professional pilot training.
Yes. The training sits within the European EASA regulatory framework.
Greece and France apply the same European aviation regulatory framework, EASA.
Licences and ratings obtained under that framework are therefore European, and their privileges can be exercised in the member states concerned, subject to the regulatory requirements applicable to each activity and employer.
Training in Greece does not mean obtaining a “Greek” licence limited to Greece.
Obtaining a licence is one thing. Being ready to join an airline is another. Our programme is built to prepare you for both.
Regulatory licences and ratings are the essential foundation of a professional pilot's career. But airlines are also looking for candidates who can adapt quickly to their operational environment.
That is what our “Airline Ready” approach is about.
Throughout the programme we progressively build the technical and non-technical skills expected of a future airline pilot: crew work, communication, decision-making, workload management, aviation English, operational discipline and an understanding of airline standards.
The final part of the course is devoted to the transition into the multi-crew environment and to preparing for airline selection.
Our objective is therefore not limited to getting you through your licences. We want to close the gap as far as possible between leaving the school and meeting an airline's expectations.
The APS MCC is the bridge between flying a light aircraft and working as part of a crew in an airliner environment.
Airline Pilot Standards Multi-Crew Cooperation is an advanced crew training course designed to bring pilot training closer to airline operational standards.
It develops cooperation between pilots, communication, decision-making, workload management, the application of procedures and the handling of a complex aircraft in a multi-crew environment.
That is why we see the APS MCC not as a qualification that simply closes out the course, but as a genuine bridge between the school and the airline.
Yes. For students who wish to and who meet the eligibility criteria, ESA can guide you towards a Mentored APS MCC delivered with an airline's partner training organisation.
A Mentored APS MCC goes further than a generic APS MCC by building a specific airline's standards, procedures and working methods into the training itself.
Eligible students who wish to orient their project towards Ryanair can apply for the Ryanair Mentored APS MCC programme delivered by Airline Flight Academy in Dublin, an approved Ryanair partner training organisation.
That course is delivered on a Boeing 737 MAX simulator and uses Ryanair standard operating procedures. Candidates also receive support relating to the airline's operational environment and a dedicated route towards its selection process.
Access to this programme remains subject to the eligibility criteria and selection process of Ryanair and Airline Flight Academy.
ESA supports each student in preparing for this stage and in choosing the APS MCC that best fits their professional project.
The aim is not to impose the same route on every student, but to let each one choose the bridge to the airline that suits their own project.
Because becoming an airline pilot is not just about accumulating flying hours. You have to learn to operate in an international, professional environment.
We chose Crete because it brings together several conditions that suit intensive professional training particularly well: weather that allows regular flying activity, an international environment and the everyday use of English.
Our students therefore learn very early on to operate in an environment that steadily converges on the one they will meet during their career.
This immersion is not only about flying. Living and training abroad also builds independence, adaptability, communication and the ability to work with people from different cultures.
All of which are part of an airline pilot's daily working life.
Because a future airline pilot needs to learn in an environment close to the one they will meet at an airline.
Operating alongside an international airport environment means becoming familiar with commercial traffic, radio communications in English, operational procedures and the management of busy airspace.
That gradual exposure builds the ease and the professional reflexes you will rely on throughout your career.
Our students have accommodation designed to let them live and study together throughout their training.
Life as a class group is an important part of the ESA experience.
The accommodation lets students share their daily life with other future pilots, work together and settle quickly into their course group.
It encourages mutual support and cohesion while still giving everyone their own personal space.
You are going abroad, but you are not going alone. You join a course group and a community of students going through the same experience.
Spending several months abroad is naturally a significant change.
That is precisely why we pay particular attention to group life and to student support.
Students live, study and progress together. That quickly creates a group dynamic and a solidarity that matter a great deal during training this intensive.
The programme fee is presented transparently before you commit, together with a payment schedule matching the stages of your training.
Professional pilot training is a significant investment, and we believe a candidate and their family should have a clear view of that commitment before starting.
Our Admissions team will take you through the cost of the programme, what it covers, the payment terms and any additional expenses to plan for.
That way you can build your funding plan before finally confirming your entry into training.
Yes. Payment is staged, so that the funding is spread across the course.
The cost of the training does not have to be settled in a single payment.
A payment schedule follows your progress through the programme and allows families to plan for each due date.
The precise terms are presented to you before enrolment, so that your financial commitment is entirely clear.
Most students arrange their funding before the intake, usually with bank finance.
Every situation is different, which is why we recommend addressing funding very early in your project.
Our team can provide the documents relating to the programme, its cost and its payment schedule that you need to build your finance application.
We strongly advise against leaving these steps to the final weeks before the intake.
There is no grant scheme dedicated to professional pilot training. Some local authorities do, however, offer training support.
No national grant scheme covers this kind of course.
It is still worth asking your town, your department and your region: professional training support does exist, with criteria and amounts that vary considerably from one area to another.
This support never covers the whole programme, but it can reduce the amount you need to fund elsewhere.
Because pilot training is a significant investment, we believe the protection and traceability of the sums paid must be part of the trust we build with our students and their families.
Choosing a flight school should not come down to comparing aircraft, flying hours or simulators alone.
A professional training programme runs over many months and represents a major financial commitment for the student and their family.
ESA has therefore put in place a “Student Fund Protection” scheme, designed to strengthen transparency over the sums paid, how they are allocated and the level of protection attached to each stage of the course.
Before any commitment, the payment terms, the schedule and the applicable protection arrangements are presented to the candidate.
Our aim is simple: to let you commit to your training understanding not only what you are buying, but also how your investment is tracked and protected.
At ESA, preparing for the airline does not start once you have your licence. It is built progressively during your training.
Airline selection does not rest on your ability to fly an aircraft alone.
Recruiters also assess your communication, your crew work, your decision-making, your technical knowledge, your English, your professional conduct and your ability to operate in a highly standardised environment.
Our “Airline Ready” approach therefore develops those skills throughout the course.
The final part of the training then brings students closer still to the airline environment, through the APS MCC, through selection preparation and, for students who wish to and are eligible, through the option of applying for airline-linked Mentored APS MCC routes.
Training a pilot is our profession. Helping that pilot turn training into a career is part of our mission too.
Not every pilot is looking for the same airline, the same type of operation or the same career.
“Find the Right Seat” is our support programme towards that first job.
It starts by understanding each student's professional project, then continues with preparation for applications, interviews, technical assessments and simulator sessions.
Where several opportunities or routes are open, we also help students understand how they differ and identify the ones that best match their profile.
That can lead some students to choose a generic APS MCC while others apply for a Mentored APS MCC linked to a particular airline.
Our ambition is therefore not simply to help you find a seat.
It is to help you find the right seat.
No. We would rather prepare you properly to win your first job than promise you a recruitment that only an airline can decide.
The decision to recruit always belongs to the airline.
No training course, no partnership and no APS MCC can substitute for its selection process.
Our responsibility covers everything we can genuinely control: the quality of your training, your technical level, your English, your crew skills, your professional conduct and your preparation for recruitment processes.
We also develop bridges that, where relevant, bring our students closer to the standards and selection processes of certain airlines.
That is precisely the philosophy behind our “Airline Ready” approach and our “Find the Right Seat” programme.
Our commitment is not to promise you a job.
It is to prepare you to be ready when the opportunity comes.
