Madrid, 23 March 2022 (AESA)

The State Aviation Safety Agency (AESA) has issued the first Multiple Crew Pilot (MPL) licences as a result of the collaboration between the Approved Training Organisation (ATO) FTE Jerez and the company Vueling, both certified by AESA.

The MPL licence is provided for in Subpart E of European Regulation 1178/2011 and grants the holder of the licence the right to exercise as a co-pilot on an aeroplane requiring co-pilot operation. It is a concept of training, and even career path for its holder, different from the usual one, since the training as a pilot is based on competences and oriented to the operator with whom the agreement has been made from the beginning, ending the process not only with the issue of a licence but with the endorsement, as a co-pilot, of a type rating and its associated instrument rating.

This first promotion of pilots with this type of licence is the result of the collaboration agreement signed in 2019 between Vueling and FTE Jerez, and after the approval of the course by AESA, the first MPL licences developed entirely by Spanish organisations are now issued.

FTE Jerez, ATO that already had, under the supervision of the United Kingdom, previous experience in training aimed at obtaining MPL licenses, extended, under the supervision of the Licensing Division to Aeronautical Personnel of AESA, the scope of its approval by incorporating in its certificate the course for obtaining MPL licences delivered in collaboration with air operators certified by other Member States of the European Union.