Spirit Airlines adds new university partner to beef up pilot training pipeline as shortage persists

Spirit Airlines on Thursday mentioned it would partner with Liberty University, the tenth college that it is working with, to assist beef up a pilot training pipeline as the business continues to face a shortfall of aviators.

The program will permit college students pursuing aviation levels on the university’s School of Aeronautics in Lynchburg, Virginia, to apply to the corporate’s pipeline program after finishing their sophomore 12 months. Prospective trainees will want a suggestion from a college member earlier than being eligible to start this system.

Students working towards an aviation diploma can get conditional job presents as they end their research and work on accruing flight hours. They should then full airline pilot training applications, becoming a member of as first officers.

“We put quite a lot of onerous work into growing the Spirit Wings Pilot Pathway Program and assembling a terrific group of companions making it extremely rewarding to attain this key milestone,” Ryan Rodosta, senior director of flight operations and system chief pilot at Spirit, mentioned in a press release.

Other carriers have additionally sought to improve their provide of new pilots. U.S. industrial airline pilots can solely fly till age 65 beneath U.S. regulation. A surge in retirements and buyouts in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic have exacerbated a shortfall, notably at regional carriers.

JetBlue announced final month that its Gateway Rotor Transition Program will train U.S.-military skilled helicopter pilots to transition to airline pilots. More than 10% of JetBlue’s new pilot hires in 2023 are anticipated to come from certainly one of its Gateway applications, JetBlue mentioned on the time.

In February 2020, United Airlines purchased a flight academy in an effort to rent greater than 10,000 new pilots throughout the decade.

Airlines are incentivized to prepare new pilots utilizing pipeline applications. U.S. regulation requires pilots to obtain 1,500 hours of training to fly with industrial airways. Exceptions exist for some, such as U.S. military-trained pilots and those that attend two- and four-year applications that embody flight training.