EASA ATPL, country by country

Ireland is a small country with an outsized aviation footprint: it is home to two major airline cadet pipelines and a large share of the world's aircraft-leasing industry. If you want to sit your EASA ATPL theory exams here, the Irish Aviation Authority runs the papers and a handful of approved schools deliver the training.

Spain is one of the busiest EASA training countries: sunny flying weather, a cluster of large integrated schools, and ATPL theory exams sat in English draw international students from across Europe. The exams are run by the state safety agency AESA, with the logistics handled by SENASA.

Greece pairs good Mediterranean flying weather with a national flag carrier that funds pilot training end to end, and one of the lowest ATPL exam fees in the EASA system. The Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority runs the theory exams from a single national venue at Athens airport.

Germany hosts the Lufthansa Group and one of Europe's densest clusters of independent flight schools, and it runs its professional pilot theory exams centrally from the federal aviation office. If you sit your EASA ATPL papers here, you deal with the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt in Braunschweig.

Poland has become a popular EASA training base: identical European licences at lower tuition than western Europe, a growing Ryanair-group presence, and one of the largest pilot schools in Central Europe. The Civil Aviation Authority (ULC) runs the theory exams itself rather than handing them to the schools.