Updated 18 October 2026
What a PPL really costs, and why the advertised price is not the number
Every flight school publishes one figure for the PPL. Almost none of them is what you will pay. This guide goes through the items that sit outside the headline price, using real numbers from the schools in Cyprus.
The headline price covers the minimum, at best
An EASA PPL(A) requires at least 45 hours of flight training. The advertised price is nearly always that minimum multiplied by an hourly rate, sometimes with ground school thrown in. In Cyprus the advertised prices run from €10,500 to €16,898. Before anyone flies an hour beyond the minimum, the fees below add €1,286 to €1,951 to those figures.
The fees every student pays
- Theory exams. Nine subjects, each sat as a separate exam with the aviation authority. In Cyprus the Department of Civil Aviation charges €17.09 per exam, about €154 for the set. Resits cost the same again.
- Theory course. Sometimes included, sometimes a separate fee. One Cyprus school charges €2,500 for ground school on top of flying; two others include it. The question to ask is not “is theory included?” but “what is the price with theory?”.
- Skill test: examiner and aircraft. The final flight test is flown with an examiner who is paid separately, typically €150–300. The aircraft for the test is often charged on top of the 45 hours as well, around €375 in Cyprus. Several schools do not mention either until you ask.
- Licence issue. Paid to the regulator: in Cyprus about €226 for the initial issue, the single-engine class rating and the licence booklet.
- Medical. A Class 2 medical certificate from an aeromedical examiner, about €140 in Cyprus, before you can fly solo.
- English language proficiency. An assessment needed for the radio endorsement, about €192 in Cyprus. One school charges it at the very end of the course, which is easy to forget when budgeting.
- Equipment. Headset, flight computer, plotter, logbook, charts. Some packages include the training aids but never the headset; one school sells a complete bundle for €665. Budget a few hundred euros unless the school lends headsets.
- Airport fees. At controlled airports you may need a security pass (a few euros) and may pay landing fees. These are small individually but worth asking about.
The hours beyond the minimum are where the money goes
Most students do not finish in 45 hours. Weather, gaps between lessons, and simply the time it takes to be ready for the test push the average higher; 55 to 65 hours is a common range quoted by instructors, and part-time students at the slower end can go beyond that. Every extra hour is billed at the dual rate, which in Cyprus is €232.05 to €357 including VAT. Ten extra hours therefore cost €2,321 to €3,570, which is more than all the one-off fees combined.
This is why the hourly rate matters more than the package price once you are past the minimum, and why we show “each extra hour” as its own column. It is also why the most useful question you can ask a school is: what share of your students pass the skill test within 45 hours? A school that answers with a number has been paying attention. One that says “most of them” has not.
VAT, and what “no VAT” means
Flight training in most EU countries carries standard-rate VAT, 19% in Cyprus. Some schools quote hourly rates before VAT, some after, and at least one Cyprus school states that no VAT applies to its prices at all. Always ask for the figure you will actually be invoiced, and compare schools on that basis. All totals on pilotsradar include VAT.
Course structure changes the cost too
Two schools with the same prices can cost you very differently in time and travel. A school that requires all theory exams to be passed before the first flight suits a full-time student who can block out weeks for ground school, and it removes the risk of paying for flying hours while theory drags on. A school that lets theory and flying run in parallel suits someone training around a job, but a slow theory phase can stretch the course and add hours of refresher flying. Time limits matter as well: one Cyprus school gives 24 months from the theory exams to the skill test.
What a realistic budget looks like
For Cyprus, with every fee counted and 55 hours of flying, the realistic total runs from €14,228 to €21,754 depending on school and aircraft, against advertised prices of €10,500 to €16,898. The full comparison shows each school's numbers line by line, and the methodology explains every assumption we make.