What Is an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) Certificate?
January 5, 2026
The Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate is the pinnacle of pilot certification in the United States. It's required to serve as pilot in command of any scheduled airline flight under FAR Part 121 — the rules that govern major carriers like American, Delta, and United.
Who Has an ATP?
AviationDepth indexes over 150,000 ATP-certificated airmen from the FAA Civil Aviation Registry. This includes airline captains, corporate pilots, and cargo pilots at the top of their careers.
Requirements
- At least 1,500 total flight hours (reduced to 1,000 for military pilots and 1,250 for graduates of certain Part 141 schools)
- 500 hours of cross-country flight time
- 100 hours of night flight
- 75 hours of instrument flight
- 250 hours as pilot in command
- Pass the ATP written (knowledge) test and the ATP practical test (checkride)
- Hold at least a commercial pilot certificate and instrument rating
ATP vs. Commercial Pilot
A Commercial Pilot certificate lets you be paid to fly, but the ATP is required to be captain on a Part 121 airline. Many commercial pilots build hours as a first officer or in charter/cargo work before upgrading to ATP.
Type Ratings
Flying a specific transport-category aircraft (like a Boeing 737 or Airbus A320) requires a type rating in addition to the ATP. You can browse type ratings in the AviationDepth database to see how many pilots are qualified on each aircraft.
Looking Up ATP Pilots
Use AviationDepth to search ATP-certificated pilots by name or state. The database is updated weekly from FAA bulk data.