This past October, we celebrated a very special birthday: Aviate turned three years old!
Aviate is United’s industry-leading career-development program for pilots, offering both aspiring and established pilots a secure path to the United flight deck. Aviate was founded with the goal to develop an ecosystem of first-class partnerships to create a strong pipeline of high-quality pilots in support of United’s future growth plans.
Aviate has five paths to entry, allowing for pilots and prospective pilots with different backgrounds and experiences. Whether they are a student or flight instructor at a partner university or flight school, a commercial pilot at an Aviate-participating Part 135 operator or United Express carrier, or already a part of the United family, Aviate has a path for everyone.
“Since inception, Aviate has partnered with some of the highest-quality flight schools and well-regarded universities in the country,” says Perry Lewis, Director of Aviate and Pilot Strategy. “As of this October, Aviate has 27 partnerships, and we’re still growing. Just this year, United signed 11 new university, flight school, and Part 135 partners, making the program more accessible to aspiring pilots.”
Additionally, United launched a new, mobile-friendly Aviate and First Officer application, which helps candidates excel during their application process. Participants in the Aviate program benefit from a defined, secure path to a lifelong career at United. Throughout the program, Aviate participants have opportunities to connect with members of the United family, receive mentoring from a United pilot, and have access to travel privileges—that’s right, participants can travel the world while also training to pilot those very flights someday.
Another entry opportunity into the Aviate program is through United Aviate Academy (UAA), United’s wholly-owned flight school that opened December 6, 2021. UAA provides those who dream of flying but have no experience an opportunity to get their Private Pilot License and join the Aviate program in as little as two months. Once in the Aviate program, students complete training at UAA.
“It’s an honor to oversee a flight school that is contributing to the Aviate program and the aviation industry as a whole,” says Dana Donati, UAA’s CEO and one of the few women in the U.S. to run a flight school. “Our goal is to have a student body that is made up of 50 percent women and people of color, and we are doing just that. We are giving back to the industry by training talented pilots who fly safely and will go on to train the next generation of airline pilots. It’s exciting to see the support provided by the Aviate program which is making aviation more attainable by those interested in taking flight.”
Cheers to many more successful years of Aviate!
Make sure to follow Aviate on Instagram, @unitedaviate, and subscribe to their newsletter on the unitedaviate.com website.
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