Spartan College has a new partnership with American Airlines’ largest regional carrier to become a feeder school for new pilots.
Spartan Flight Campus President and Chief Aviation Officer Ryan Goertzen said the agreement with Envoy Air will lay out a clear pathway for students who want to become commercial pilots.
"They start in the school. They know if they want to go fly with Envoy, there are certain criteria that have to be met, and then through the partnership, there are milestones in the student's progression from student pilot to an instructor," Goertzen said. "They build the hours to the time they get to Envoy as a first officer."
A recent Boeing forecast says the world will need 637,000 pilots over the next 20 years. Goertzen said the factors behind that are industry contractions after the 9/11 attacks, current fleet expansions and major airlines delaying substantial hiring for 15 years.
The forecast means a lot of opportunities for potential pilots.
"They don't have to just look within the United States. There is global demand, and if they want to fly here in the United States, great, but they can also fly anywhere around the world in many of the different airlines," Goertzen said.
