Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

2 Answers

Commercial Pilot in Different Countries

Asked by: 3523 views , , ,
Commercial Pilot, FAA Regulations

I currently am working on my CPL here in the U.S. under the FAA for an FAA-issued CPL.  Eventually, I intend on getting my ATP to be able to fly wherever my career takes me.  Say down the road I wanted to fly commercially in Europe, is it possible to hold a CPL with the FAA and the EASA, or would my only option be to convert from one to the other.  Based on what I have seen it is a lot of work to get an EASA license even if you already have one from the FAA.  It would be a bummer to lose my FAA CPL in the process.  Long story short, ignoring currency and all, can I physically hold both the required and valid commercial licenses to work and fly under EASA jurisdiction for a European carrier while simultaneously still having my valid FAA CPL and likely ATP?

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

2 Answers



  1. KDS on Apr 03, 2021

    The short answer is YES.

    Once you obtain a US airman certificate (an FAA ATP or Commercial certificate is an airman certificate) you never lose it unless the FAA takes it away for a reason such as an enforcement action for a violation of the regulations.

    As you are probably aware, you can obtain a US Private Pilot Certificate based upon your pilot license from another country. However, to obtain a Commercial or ATP certificate, you have to meet all of the US testing requirements.

    You are 100 percent correct that the EASA certification process is more difficult than the US certification process.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. awair on Apr 06, 2021

    You don’t say where you are from, or if you have the right to live and work in Europe?

    If you are uniquely qualified, special type etc, then it may be possible to get a temporary validation of any ICAO license either from an EASA member state or the UK.

    All currently operate to a common rule book, interpreted differently by almost every country!

    The temporary validation is normally for a year, and could be in conjunction with a job offer.

    Some states are more flexible, with high fees. Draw your own conclusions!

    Good luck.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.