United Expanding Fleet of Training Aircraft Amid High Demand

United Airlines’ newly-opened United Aviate Academy has announced plans to quadruple the size of its fleet of training aircraft in response to a recent surge of flight school applications.

The academy has ordered 25 new Cirrus TRAC SR20 aircraft with the option to add 50 more after receiving more than 12,000 applications since first announcing the school in April 2021. The training fleet currently consists of 25 late-model Cirrus TRAC SR20 series single-engine aircraft.

United Aviate Academy also recently purchased seven state-of-the-art FRASCA simulators, including some with 220-degree wraparound displays. Deliveries are expected to begin in April, providing students access to high-quality flight simulators featuring hardware and software that operate exactly like the aircraft.

“We’re investing in-flight education as we train the next generation of United Airlines pilots, who are the future of our airline,” Bryan Quigley, United’s Senior Vice President for Flight Operations for United Airlines, said in a statement. “These student pilots are receiving world-class flight training at United Aviate Academy and I’m looking forward to the day when they join our current United pilots on the flight deck.”

United Aviate Academy opened in Goodyear, Arizona just outside of Phoenix in January, with its first class of students being 80 percent women or people of color. The academy is targeting training as many as 5,000 new pilots by 2030, at least half of them women or people of color.