It was created in 2006 to provide an alternative means for ab-initio students to become commercial air transport (airline) pilots.
[1] Requirements were first included in the 10th edition of Annex 1 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Personnel Licensing), published in November 2006.
[4]: 17 Captain Dieter Harms, who was chairman of the management board of Lufthansa Flight Training and who has been dubbed the "father of the MPL",[5] has stated the MPL programme was not introduced to deal with a pilot shortage,[6] and was not introduced to reduce training costs.
[4]: 18 Applicants must be at least 18 years old, hold a Class 1 medical certificate, and have completed the theoretical training for an airline transport pilot licence (ATPL).
The licence is typically achieved in approximately 16–18 months total time from no flight experience to flying for an airline.
However, MPL holders are tied to a specific airline until they reach 1,500 flight hours and are able to gain an ATPL.
[20] By contrast, Rickard Wickander and Nicklas Dahlström of Lund University School of Aviation state that as of 2014 there is "no indication that the MPL should have any significant shortcomings in comparison with traditional airline pilot training... it should be difficult even for opponents of the MPL to ignore the increasingly large amount of positive feedback from host airlines that is now available.
"[21] According to ECA, authorities and Approved Training Organisation (ATOs) "lack understanding of the competency based concept".