Alternative Training and Qualification Programme (ATQP)

ATQP was the EASA / UK CAA equivalent of the FAA's Advanced Qualification Program (AQP). Codified in EU-OPS 1.978 (under the old JAA / pre-2014 EASA framework) and later in Part-ORO Subpart FC, ATQP let approved Part-CAT operators design a customised training and qualification scheme based on operational evidence — line-operations data, simulator performance trends, incident analysis, FDM, LOSA — in place of the standard recurrent-training and operator-conversion regime in Part-OPS / Part-ORO.

An ATQP operator built a programme on three foundations. First, a Programme Validation Plan established the rationale for the customised programme — what operational risks the standard programme didn't address adequately for this operator's network and fleet, and how the proposed customisation would address them. Second, the Training Programme defined the events, content, and assessment methodology — typically organised around competency frameworks similar to those later codified in CBTA. Third, the Data Capture and Analysis system required the operator to continuously measure programme effectiveness and feed the data back into curriculum changes — the same data-driven loop that defines AQP and EBT.

ATQP enjoyed modest uptake — Easyjet, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, KLM, and a handful of other major European carriers ran ATQP programmes in the 2000s and 2010s. The implementation cost was high (similar to AQP — 18-36 months and substantial training-operations and training-records investment) and the regulatory benefit was modest enough that smaller carriers stayed on the standard regime. The introduction of Evidence-Based Training (EBT) under EASA AMC1 ORO.FC.231 — which institutionalised the data-driven, competency-based principles ATQP pioneered — effectively absorbed ATQP into the mainstream EASA recurrent-training framework. Most former ATQP operators have transitioned to Enhanced EBT or Mixed EBT.

The relationship between ATQP, AQP, and EBT is occasionally confused. AQP is the FAA programme (US), still in active use, codified in 14 CFR 121 Subpart Y. ATQP was the EASA programme (Europe), now largely retired in favour of EBT. EBT is the current EASA recurrent-training methodology, codified in AMC1 ORO.FC.231 and applicable across all EASA Part-CAT operators. All three share the same underlying philosophy — competency-based training driven by operational evidence — and broadly the same evidence types (LOSA, FDM, training analytics, incident data).

For a flight school or ATO running airline cadet programmes, ATQP and AQP are historically interesting but not directly applicable — they govern recurrent training of qualified line pilots, not initial training. The competency frameworks they pioneered, however, are exactly the frameworks now codified in CBTA and applied to initial training under EASA Part-FCL and the equivalent FAA frameworks. An ATO running competency-based initial training is operating on the same conceptual foundation that ATQP and AQP introduced for recurrent training.

For Part-CAT operators historically running ATQP, and for combined ATO + AOC operators whose AOC arm has transitioned from ATQP to EBT, Aviatize's training-management module provides the data-capture and competency-tracking infrastructure both frameworks require. Trainee and crew competency records, instructor and evaluator records, training-event records linked to competency outcomes, and the audit-ready exports authority oversight requires are all in one platform.

The practical advantage for operators that ran ATQP and have moved to EBT is that the historical ATQP records and the current EBT records sit in the same database — so the longitudinal competency view of a pilot's career at the operator survives the programme transition. The competency framework on a 2018 ATQP simulator session and a 2026 Enhanced EBT session reconcile to one pilot record.