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United’s Aviate Academy First Class Start Today at New Training Facility in Phoenix

United Airlines (Nasdaq: UAL) today announced the inaugural class of 30 United Aviate Academy students will begin their studies on Dec. 6 at the new flight training academy at Phoenix Goodyear Airport. The first class, 80% of whom are women or people of color, will complete a rigorous, year-long training program that sets them up for a career that reflects United’s high standard of professionalism and deep commitment to delivering a safe, caring, dependable and efficient travel experience. United Aviate Academy received more than 7,500 applications from aspiring pilots around the country in less than six months, with nearly 75% of those applicants being women or people of color.

After completing their training at the academy, students will build flight and leadership experience while working within the Aviate pilot development ecosystem at partner universities, professional flight training organizations and United Express carriers on their way to becoming United pilots.

The state-of-the-art, 340,000 square-foot facility at Phoenix Goodyear Airport, which United Aviate Academy will lease from the city of Phoenix, will provide aspiring pilots with industry-leading resources, equipment, and accommodations. The facility was previously home to Lufthansa Aviation Training (LAT), and United Aviate Academy will sublease part of its facility to LAT, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lufthansa, a United Star Alliance partner.

Lufthansa Group Streamlines Pilot Training Program within ReNew Framework

The global aviation crisis caused by the pandemic continues to have serious consequences for employees working in the airline industry. As a result, pilot training has also been severely affected by the repercussions of the crisis, as the need for recruitment has decreased.

Nevertheless, Lufthansa has decided to use the interruption caused by the crisis to fundamentally modernize the existing training concept at its in-house flight schools. The principle of ab-initio training will remain in place, as it has been proven to be successful for decades. However, in the future, a so-called “campus model” framework will provide modern, digital forms of training along with new selection procedures. These will enable more needs-based training for the various airlines of the Lufthansa Group and take into account the volatile demand in air traffic.

The campus training will be comparable to a university study program with defined qualification and training standards resulting in an institutionalized, internationally recognizable degree. After completing the training, graduates will be recruited depending on the demand situation of the respective flight operations of the various airlines of the Lufthansa Group.

Consequently, this gives the current generation of student pilots another perspective on a possible entry into cockpits at Lufthansa Group Airlines later on. In view of the current lack of prospects for pilot careers within the Lufthansa Group, last year the Group’s training division, Lufthansa Aviation Training (LAT),  offered all flight students the option of ending their training without incurring any costs or, alternatively, continuing their training at another flight school.

Part of the new training concept is to provide theoretical and practical training, which is located closer to the customer. In the future, the theoretical part will be concentrated at the traditional Bremen location, where the digital modules for theoretical pilot training will also be developed. The practical part of the training, which is scheduled to take place in Germany, will be consolidated at Rostock-Laage: LAT already operates a modern and recognized training facility at “RLG” airport, the site of its largest external customer.