The loop · step 02
Live licence limits
Live headroom as you issue, and a warning before you breach.
Your licence sets hard caps. MyATOL counts every certificate against them as you issue, so the headroom on screen is current, by passenger count and by licensable revenue, across the types and periods your licence governs.
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Live
Headroom as you issue
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½ & full
Warned before the limit
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Auto
Late certificates flagged
The reconciliation loop
Beat 2 of 4
Warned in good time
MyATOL warns you when you reach half of a limit, and again at full, by on-screen status and by email, so a busy quarter never quietly runs you past your authorisation. The warning reaches the people who need it while there is still room to act. Certificates issued after departure are flagged automatically: the ones that distort a period you thought was settled.
Half of annual limit reached
1,250 of 2,500 passengers · emailed
Full limit approaching
2,375 of 2,500 passengers
Counted once, read everywhere
The usage that drives these warnings is the usage that builds your return. Each certificate is bucketed by departure period as it is issued, and every surface (limits, reports, the statutory return) reads from the same figures. No parallel tallies, no reconciliation between systems.
Q1 2026 return
Apr - Jun · departure basis
| As issued | 500 · £1.46m |
| After errors | 494 · £1.44m |
| After changes | 489 · £1.43m |
| APC payable | £1,222.50 |
Reconciled live as certificates are issued
Built in
What's included.
- Caps by certificate type, quarter and year
- Usage counted on the departure basis
- On-screen status: half, approaching, full
- Email alerts at half and at full
- Late certificates flagged automatically on issue
- Headroom in passengers and licensable revenue
Questions
Straight answers.
When does a certificate count against the licence?
The moment it is issued. Usage totals the active bookings in the period using each booking's current passenger count and protected cost; cancelled bookings are excluded, and infants under two do not count.
Passengers or revenue: which triggers a warning?
Whichever is worse. Both are checked against the cap for that booking type, quarter and year, and the tighter of the two drives the tier: Half once you pass 50%, Full once you are over the cap.
Are the warnings a regulatory control?
No. They are a courtesy. The real obligation is to file a variation with the CAA, which the warning email prompts in good time. The system surfaces the need; it does not file the variation for you.
Which periods do the limits use?
The ATOL financial year, in quarters from April: Apr-Jun, Jul-Sep, Oct-Dec, Jan-Mar. Each booking is matched to the quarter of its departure date.
The loop · step 02
See it on your own ATOL.
Every certificate counts against your licence the moment it is issued. See your headroom at any time, and get warned at half and at full, well before the limit.