Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to reduce waiting times for pilot licence applications.

The number of flight crew licence applications received by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has grown by more than 40% since the start of 2018. The CAA has responded by recruiting and training more licensing officers, increasing staff overtime, and pre-screening applications to ensure that all the required information has been received. The CAA is working with key stakeholders to identify improvements which will help to simplify and speed up the application process for both commercial and private pilots.