Six-person limit: lower caps for LAPL, NPPL and microlights

A UK cost-sharing flight can carry no more than six persons, including the pilot, so the most you can take is five passengers. Your licence or aircraft can set a lower limit: a LAPL(A) or NPPL(A) holder can carry at most four people in total, and a microlight carries at most two.

The six-person cap is the outer boundary set by the cost-sharing rules. In practice the number you can fly is the lowest of three limits: the cost-sharing rule, your licence privileges, and what the aircraft can actually carry on the day.

What the rule says

For Part-21 aeroplanes and helicopters, NCO.GEN.102(a) reads:

"No more than six persons (including the pilot) are to be carried on the flight."

ANO 2016 article 13(2)(a), which covers non-Part-21 aircraft such as UK permit aircraft and microlights, is materially identical. Both have applied since 1 October 2025. CAP 1590 sets out the full list of conditions, which we summarise in the cost sharing rules explained.

The rule counts persons carried, not passengers and not paying passengers. Everyone on board counts, including the pilot and anyone flying for free.

The rules don't define "persons" differently for babies or young children. The cautious approach is to count every person on board, whatever their age.

Lower limits by licence and aircraft

LAPL(A)

FCL.105.A(a) allows a LAPL(A) holder to fly as PIC on single-engine piston aeroplanes or TMGs of 2,000 kg MTOM or less, "carrying a maximum of 3 passengers, such that there are always a maximum of 4 persons on board".

Point (b) of FCL.105.A, together with the words "and conditions" in its heading, was omitted from 1 October 2025 (SI 2025/878, reg 6(3)(a)). You still need to meet the normal passenger recency rule: three take-offs, approaches and landings in the preceding 90 days in an aircraft of the same type or class (FCL.060(b)(1); CAP 1590, para 15).

NPPL(A)

The NPPL(A) privileges in ANO Schedule 8 allow non-commercial flight as PIC "provided that the total number of persons carried (including the pilot) does not exceed four, and the maximum certified take-off mass of the aeroplane does not exceed 2,000 kg". The UK private licences' "excepted flights condition" expressly permits flights "of the type mentioned in article 6(4a)" of the Air Operations Regulation, which is where cost sharing sits.

Microlights

ANO Schedule 1, para 4, defines a microlight aeroplane (other than a single-seat deregulated aeroplane or one on a flight test) as one "designed to carry not more than two persons". A cost-shared microlight flight is therefore limited to the pilot and one passenger, regardless of licence.

For a fuller comparison of what each licence allows, see cost sharing on a PPL, LAPL or NPPL.

The old four-person limit for permit aircraft

ANO article 13(2) was substituted with effect from 1 October 2025 (S.I. 2025/850). Before then the two legal routes had different caps:

• Part-21 aircraft were already limited to six persons sharing the direct costs.
• Non-Part-21 aircraft (permit aircraft, microlights, Annex I types) were limited by the old ANO article 13(2)(a) to "no more than four persons (including the pilot)".

For a period the CAA also issued a general exemption (ORS4 No. 1608) allowing six persons on cost-sharing flights in non-Part-21 aircraft within the London and Scottish FIRs. It no longer matters for current flying: the current ANO article 13(2)(a) itself allows six.

If you read older forum threads or club notes that mention a four-seat limit for permit aircraft, that is the pre-October 2025 position. Our guide to what changed on 1 October 2025 covers the other differences.

Seats, weight and balance

Most light aircraft used for cost sharing have two or four seats, so the six-person cap only comes into play in larger singles and twins. More often, the binding limit is the aircraft's weight and balance.

Points to check before you promise seats:

• Seats and harnesses. The aircraft can only carry as many people as it has approved seats. The cost-sharing rule does not override that.
• Weight. With four adults and full fuel, many four-seat aircraft are over maximum take-off mass. You may have to choose between a full cabin and full tanks, which affects range and fuel planning.
• Centre of gravity. Rear-seat passengers and baggage move the CG aft. Run the figures with real weights, not guesses, and ask passengers for their weight in advance.
• Baggage. Day-trip bags add up. Set a limit in your advert or booking message.
• Performance. A heavier aircraft needs more runway and climbs more slowly. Check take-off and landing performance for each airfield, especially short or grass strips on a warm day.

If the numbers don't work, fly fewer people. CAP 1590 (paras 12 to 13) confirms the pilot can refuse any passenger, or amend or cancel the flight, for any reason.

How the split changes with numbers

The cap on each passenger's contribution depends directly on how many people are on board. NCO.GEN.102(c) limits each passenger to "an amount not more than the total direct costs divided equally by the number of persons carried (including the pilot)". CAP 1590 para 27 puts it from the other side: the pilot's contribution "must not be less than the total direct cost divided equally by the number of people on board."

Take an illustrative flight with £240 of direct costs:

Two consequences are worth knowing:

• Fewer people, bigger shares. If someone drops out, the cap for the rest is recalculated using the number of persons actually carried. You still pay at least an equal share, and you can choose to pay more (GM1 NCO.GEN.102(c)). Passengers can also pay less than an equal share, because NCO.GEN.102(c) sets only a maximum.
• Uneven splits are unclear. The rules don't directly say whether one passenger can pay more than an equal share if another pays less. NCO.GEN.102(c) and ANO article 13(2)(c) cap "the contribution" at the total direct costs divided equally by the number of persons carried, so the cautious approach is to cap every passenger at the equal share.

Only direct costs can go into the total: fuel, oil, airfield charges and aircraft rental at the current market rate. See what counts as a direct cost, work out your own numbers with the cost-sharing calculator, and check typical hourly costs for your type on the aircraft costs page. Who pays what has more worked examples.

Every passenger, however many you carry, also needs a signed declaration before the flight, unless (under AMC1 NCO.GEN.102(g)(b)) they hold or have held a pilot's licence. Split My Flight collects these online and keeps the records for you; the passenger declarations guide explains what they must contain, and the regulations overview brings the rest together.