United, the only American airline to own a flight school, is celebrating the graduation of United Aviate Academy’s inaugural class of pilots.
The graduating class includes 51 students with nearly 80% being women or people of colour – making it a feat for diversity and inclusion and moving towards the airline’s goal to train about 5,000 new pilots at the school by 2030.
The recruitment of pilots is a priority at United and the academy is part of the long-term investments in infrastructure, training, and aircraft the airline has made in recent years.
United COO Toby Enqvist and United CEO Scott Kirby will honour the first class of graduates at a ceremony later this morning at the Phoenix Goodyear Airport.
“United is leading the industry in the training, recruitment and hiring of the next generation of talented commercial pilots and the progress we’ve made at United Aviate Academy after just one year is another example of an airline where good leads the way,” said Mr Kirby.
