An innovative new partnership between Metro State University of Denver and a subsidiary of one of the nation’s biggest airlines aims to both mitigate future pilot shortages and offer younger students an opportunity to soar.
Envoy Air Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of American Airlines, will now employ students from as flight instructors as early as their sophomore year, provided those students hold a private pilot certificate and instrument rating.
Similar “pipeline” programs at various aviation schools around the nation focus on college seniors.
Envoy, which employs about 14,000 nationwide, is sweetening the pot by offering $10,000 scholarships to those students who complete a bachelor’s degree in aviation and join the airline as a first officer after graduation.
“Once on board, a new hire is projected to upgrade to captain in only two-and-a-half years, and flow-through to American in just over five years — without having to interview again,” Nicolas Brice, Envoy’s director of pilot recruitment, said in a statement.
Pilot shortages are projected to have a continuous and significant impact on the U.S. airline industry in coming years.
The shortages are caused by a perfect storm of less military pilot training, a wave of pilot retirements in the tens of thousands by the year 2022, and the sometimes-prohibitive cost of civilian pilot training, caused by new government regulations.
American Airlines hires about 50 percent of new pilots through such agreements, according to the statement.
Getting students into this hiring pipeline earlier in their college career also has benefits for Metro State, aerospace science professor and program advisor Kevin Kuhlmann said. “Partnerships like this create a mechanism for ongoing feedback from the airline so the university can consistently provide well-trained and capable first officer candidates.”
Metro State penned an agreement with Cheyenne-based Great Lakes Aviation earlier this year that guarantees interviews for qualified grads and seniors during twice annual on-campus career fairs.
Laura Keeney: 303-954-1337, lkeeney@denverpost.com or @LauraKeeney
