The UK CAA is taking its licensing system online with a new ‘e-Licensing’ portal. It will start in December this year for commercial pilots, and be opened up to private pilots during 2018.
As well as the introduction of the e-Licensing portal, the counter service at the CAA’s Gatwick office will also change.
A new fast-track appointment booking service will be available from 11 December replacing the current same-day counter service. The new service will allow licence holders to book an appointment up to one month in advance and, subject to availability, up to 15:00 the day before an appointment is needed. Appointments can be made from 27 November 2017 via a dedicated phone line 0330 022 1922 available 08:30-16:30 Monday to Friday, at a cost of £100. .
Separate appointments will also be available for applicants who require support, or a ‘checking’ service, for an application being delivered to the CAA in person. These appointments must be pre-booked using the same process as a fast-track service and will be charged at £25 per appointment. The CAA says it is unable to answer specific licensing queries via this service; such requests should be emailed to [email protected].
Once the new service is in place, licence holders who require a same-day service or who have an application support enquiry will need to book an appointment. Applicants without an appointment visiting the CAA’s Aviation House may still be able to secure an appointment for that day, but this will be subject to availability and will be charged at an increased fee of £200 for a licence application or £50 for application support.
Ahead of the introduction of e-licensing and fast-track appointments, the CAA will be closing its counter service from 20 November – 8 December 2017. Any pilots with an urgent requirement to add a rating to their licence during this closure period should use a Temporary Licence Certificate – www.caa.co.uk/srg1100 – to maintain validity and submit their application to us at the earliest opportunity.
Applications available for fast-track appointments apply to:
- Conversion to EASA licences from UK/JAR licences
- Addition of a type or class rating to a flight crew licence
- Renewal of a type or class rating to a flight crew licence
- Removal of a restriction from a flight crew licence
- Revalidation or Renewal of a flight crew licence
- Change of address
- Addition of a Night Rating
- Addition of an Instructor Rating
- Addition of Instrument Rating (not including the Competency Based route)
- Removal of restrictions from the Instructor Rating
- Replacement licence
Iif you are making an application on the basis of an ICAO licence, you will need to make an application for a Third Country Verification (application form SRG2142) and the UK CAA will need to have received the Verification before we can process your counter application.
