Transcription
[Applause] I believe these scores accurately quantify the distinct value of each program by being compared to one another. United Aviate, Delta Propel, and the American Airlines Cadet Academy. How on Earth can someone compare these three distinct programs in one comprehensive video? Well, that's exactly what I'm here for.
What's up, Pilots, enthusiasts, and future professional Pilots of YouTube? Welcome to the Pilot Pulse Channel. My name is Aaron, as in A-A-Ron, and I'm going to be giving you the first, most detailed, comprehensive, and professional overview of the different Legacy Airline career pathways from the perspective of a United Airlines pilot recruiter, Aviate coach, and previous American Airlines Cadet Academy recruiter. Why? Because times like these, where hiring has become very selective and competitive, it's crucial to know which pathways create the most value and career insurance, and which pathways will only hold you down.
As someone who has recruited for two of the three carrier pathways, I have a deep understanding of how these programs work, and my goal today is to simplify these pathways to help you understand which pathway and which entry point is best for you or someone you may know. So, before we dive in, if you enjoy content like this and want to stay updated with the latest airline hiring trends, don't forget to hit that like button and subscribe to the channel. It really helps this channel grow and allows me to bring you more of what you love.
Now, this video is going to be really detailed and lengthy. So, if you would like to go ahead and skip to certain sections, even though that would be super rude, you can reference this video list in the descriptions below, which break up the video into different chapters and lets you more quickly find the information you're looking for. Lastly, I have to say that even though I'm a United pilot and Aviate recruiter, it's important to know that I'm going to remove all biases. It's also very important that I mention that anything that I say in this video is my own personal opinion and not the views or opinions of my employer. And lastly, I'm in no way, shape, or form taking any compensation from my employer for this video, and they have no part or influence in the making of it. The making of this video is purely my own doing, and I do it solely for the education of the pilots of YouTube and to help give prospective Pilots the most information possible to have the best chance of having the most incredible and successful careers.
Let's start off with addressing the obvious question: What exactly is an airline pathway? United, Delta, and American each have their own unique pathway to each respective carrier, of which are called United Aviate, Delta Propel, and the American Airlines Cadet Academy, or more easily, the AA Cadet Academy. In this video breakdown, I'm going to explain each program, how they work, what they mean, what their purposes, how much they cost, the different entry points, the different transition points, and how long each program should take. Lastly, at the end, I'll compare the best and worst of each carrier's pipeline and try my best to quantify the overall value of each program.
If you have ever looked into these pipelines and need a quick synoptic of what they are and how they operate in a general sense, I'll give a quick overview of each. These three pipelines are sponsored pilot pathway programs that are designed to achieve three primary goals. With the first being to serve as the most guaranteed route to that specific carrier, and not necessarily the fastest, though that is possible in certain circumstances. Number two, the intent is to help gain a more assured staffing for each Legacy carrier's regional partners. And lastly, to create career loyalty towards that legacy's brand.
Each pipeline aims to achieve these goals by creating a process where a pilot with zero flight hours, or a private, or CFI, or maybe even several thousand hours, can apply, interview, and then be selected to have an official seal of approval from that company to have the most guaranteed pathway with the least amount of career uncertainty for achieving a goal of becoming a pilot for that specific carrier, being American, Delta, or United. On a high level, and after being accepted into the pipeline, these pathways provide all of the following: One, financing options for flight training. Two, potential flight credits or scholarships for flight training. Three, flight schools for flight training that are either owned by the respective airline or operated by flight school alliances with that carrier. Four, predetermined practices of building flight hours and experience. Five, defined 121 regional or 135 carriers to transition to and from to their respective Legacy carrier. Six, prerequisite time frames that must be achieved prior to being qualified to transition to the respective Legacy carrier, where these time frames are guaranteed as opposed to being an on-application, wait-and-see basis and an off-the-street hire.
So, what's in it for the airlines? Like, why do they find value in the programs to begin with, and why take the effort to create them in the first place? Well, there's two things you need to know. One, pilots are highly skilled assets, and the airline can't function without them. Now, that being said, training a pilot to fly for an airline is extremely costly, and to retain that pilot in a seat longer is to ultimately recover that training cost and make a profit from that specific pilot. Two, airlines having access to a pilot's training history, reliability record, and disciplinary records dating back to maybe the private pilot's license is simply unheard of and is extremely valuable. Now, yes, in theory, these things are supposed to be disclosed during the application process, but these questions only really scrape the surface when it comes to understanding the whole picture. So, having deep-level details of all these categories simply carries an infinite value for the airlines.
Now, to summarize everything I just said, airlines pride themselves on these pipelines because it gives them an opportunity to find pilots in their embryonic stages of their careers. By doing this, it provides unique opportunities for the airline to gain insightful data as to the candidates' training records throughout their training, reliability reports, and overall personality profiles from day one until they arrive at the Legacy carrier years later. These programs give carriers a higher level of loyalty and thus assurance that they will be able to retain pilots within their regional airline partners, which ultimately provide critical connectivity to their larger networks and can heavily influence their bottom dollar.
So, what's in it for the pilot? In a world where getting hired at a Legacy carrier is and will most likely remain very competitive, having any type of inside advantage can be the difference of landing a job at a dream carrier in just a few short years or never getting a job at a Legacy carrier. These pipelines give a pilot a much clearer route to landing the dream job by simplifying the career path, offering very specific means to achieving each step along the way, and giving very clear milestones to achieve before transitioning to the Legacy carrier, where these pipelines have the potential to be two to three times faster timelines from day one of flight school to landing the dream job at a Legacy carrier compared to an off-the-street candidate attempting to apply to a Legacy from outside any type of ecosystem such as the pipelines.
So, what does the dream airline pipeline look like? Well, the dream pipeline would be an airline that gives 100% tuition reimbursement, free housing through flight training, maybe even pays the person during training as if that is their job duty, then hires that person directly to a 135 out of flight school to build total time flying jets, then transitions them to the Legacy with 1,500 hours of total flight time, all the while not ever having to interview again for any of those pipeline jobs, and having no financial or contractual obligation to that airline after the training is completed. Now, this sounds like the Holy Grail, right? Well, you will see that these pipeline programs do fall far short of those expectations, simply for the obvious financial burdens that those programs would place upon the airlines. However, you will be able to see where they have value, and you will have a comparison point as we talk through all the pipelines, and you can determine which one carries the most intrinsic value.
Now, let's break down each individual pipeline so that you can understand the individuality of each program. Starting with the American Airlines Cadet Academy. American Airlines is a Legacy carrier in the United States that also owns three subsidiary regional airlines. So, those airlines are owned by American but operated independently and also staffed independently. Therefore, the pilots for those regionals are not part of the Legacy American pilot group. The concept of American's pipelines are to find a student in their embryonic stages of their flight training, have their students trained at their selected partner schools, instruct for those partner schools, or build time independently, then transition to one of their wholly owned regional airlines, and then wait for their flow date to American with that regional. The objective is to gain insightful data into the success of the student, reliability, and character of the student throughout the entirety of training. The reason for having this program is to give higher levels of staffing assurance for their regional partners by creating brand loyalty through the pipeline and then retaining those pilots at one of the American wholly owned regional partners until their flow date.
Once at the regional airline, though, there is no commitment to the student. Their only obligation to transition to American is that they must upgrade and serve as a captain for 24 months to meet the flow requirements. Lastly, there is no contractual commitment to fly for American during training under the Cadet Academy or after completing the program entirely. American Airlines owns the three wholly owned subsidiary airlines called PSA, Envoy, and Piedmont, which all have their own individual cadet programs, which is not to be confused with the American Airlines Cadet Academy. They are two entirely different entities. The American Cadet Academy requires that applicants meet these requirements: One, must be 21. Two, must possess a first-class medical. Three, be English proficient. Four, possess a high school diploma or higher. Five, have a right to work in the US. Six, pass a background check. And seven, possess no more than a private pilot's license at the time of application.
After being interviewed and being successfully selected into the program, the pilot will receive a pilot mentor from American Airlines as a perk of being in the Cadet Academy, where they suggest monthly communications between the mentor and mentee. The candidate must then complete flight training at one of seven pre-selected partner academy locations across the US, with housing options also offered. Students can be given financing options for the completion of private pilot through CFI. The program estimates it will cost $100,000, but this cost is not fixed and can run over if training delays are encountered, which are highly likely. Following completion of training, a participant can choose to work for one of the Cadet Academy flight schools to build time or build time independently. Upon achieving 1,500 hours of total time, which is the restricted ATP minimums, that person will be given some level of hiring priority at a regional that they are applying to. The candidate must apply, interview, and be successful in the selection process in order to be hired into one of PSA, Envoy, or Piedmont Airlines. Once successfully landing a job at one of the three wholly owned regionals, the pilot will no longer have to apply to a Legacy carrier, as they are guaranteed a job via a flow program to American, which is also a generic flow program for all pilots hired at the wholly owned regionals and not specific to Cadet Academy students.
The timeline to flow to American can be as low as 6 years and as high as 13 or more years, depending on the amount of hiring being conducted at American and the amount of people that get hired from that regional carrier to other carriers. Now, these circumstances are completely out of the pilot's control and not guaranteed on any time frame. As a result, that's why the 6 to 13-plus years is such a broad spectrum. American Airlines has a true flow where a job at one of the three wholly owned regionals technically constitutes a no-interview guaranteed job with American. However, predicting flow dates is more risky than betting on the weather staying consistent during a summer picnic, because the circumstances of flow are very volatile and heavily influenced by economic conditions. For example, when I got hired at PSA, which is a wholly owned regional of American, I was looking at a flow date of like 10 to 12 years when I started at PSA, and at one point while I was there, flow made its way all the way down to like 5 and a half years for some very fortunate individuals, and by the time I would have flowed, I would have been on property for over 7 years. Now, currently, the flow is back up to around 8 and a half years and steadily increasing, as American further and further postpones its new hire classes. Again, this is all completely out of the control of the pilot. So, if you are planning on a job with American, this is the biggest question mark in your journey, as it can significantly affect your timeline to getting to American.
Now, being enrolled in the American Airlines Cadet Academy does not change your flow priority whatsoever. Your flow is purely based on when you started training at that wholly owned regional in seniority order. So, just know this: you have a guaranteed job for American by being a pilot at a wholly owned carrier, but don't try to predict flow with enough time. You will flow. The question is just how long it will take, but unfortunately, you won't know that number until you have finally officially flowed.
Now, let's switch gears to Delta's Propel program. Delta's Propel program functions very similarly to the other three carriers in that it intends to find people in the primary flight training environment and then maintain a close monitor on that person's flight training records, reliability records, and character throughout the flight training process. The Propel commitment is by no way binding to that student, and also to Delta. So, the offer is not a guarantee, and it heavily relies on performance, reliability, and character during the journey from the beginning of flight training until the final selection transition from Endeavor Airlines to Delta. Delta intends to find people at the embryonic stages of their careers, then give them mentorship and guidance in a simplified pathway through their journey to Delta. Their second priority is to aid in staffing of their wholly owned regional, Endeavor Airlines. Even though this program is not contractually binding to a pilot, Propel increases brand loyalty to Delta, and that in turn gives higher assurance that Endeavor will be able to retain a pilot for a minimum of 1,000 hours as a first officer and 24 months as an active line captain, thus aiding in the staffing crisis that has long plagued the regional industry.
In all the Propel pipelines, the qualified job offer, which is received once someone is successfully accepted into the Propel program, also constitutes as a guaranteed job offer with Endeavor Airlines. Once a pilot reaches RATP minimums, Endeavor Airlines is currently the only transition airline to Delta. After upgrading to captain and meeting the 24-month captain requirement, the pilot will then be eligible to transition to Delta with no further interview, at the discretion of Delta pilot hiring. The rate at which Delta will transition pilots from Endeavor to Delta is not contractual, so it can be very few per month or several per month. The rate is unknown. That being said, the rate is at the discretion of Delta and their hiring ambitions, which can significantly fluctuate. Current timelines of people transitioning to Delta are around 5 to 6 years on property from Endeavor. This means that most participants at Endeavor are waiting an extra year or two in line to transition to Delta after completing their 24-month captain requirements.
So, what are the different pathways through Delta's Propel program, and how do they work within the ecosystem? Delta offers five different pathways to get there. These pathways are: One, Delta employee internal pathway. Two, collegiate pathway. Three, community pathway. Four, academy pathway. And the last, the military pathway. A few generalities of being in the Propel program, no matter what pathway that pilot is in, is that all pilots will receive a Delta pilot as an official pilot mentor and will also be invited for Delta Day participation events once per month in different locations. Participants will receive travel benefits on Delta Airlines once within six months of graduating from a university, Propel partner flight school, or the Propel Academy. Lastly, candidates receive a free Log10 Pro electronic logbook subscription until starting at Endeavor Airlines.
To go into the details of the pathways: The first of the five pathways is internal, and all the rest are considered external. The internal company pathway allows employees of Delta who have been working for Delta for over two years to apply into the Delta Propel program. Now, if selected, the applicant will be given a leave of absence for the time required to go to flight training, gain the experience until landing a job with Delta as a pilot via the Propel pipeline. The steps required to get hired under this program are: first, attaining a first-class medical and simply to apply into the program. If selected, the candidate will then have to complete an assessment, then an HR interview, then a psychological evaluation, then they will be scheduled to start and complete flight training at an approved Propel flight school, fly for Endeavor, then transition to Delta. If unsuccessful during training, the employee is able to fall back into their role with Delta.
Now, moving to the last four pathways, of which are all external. The second pipeline is the collegiate pathway, which is by far the largest pathway. This pipeline allows students who are in their junior or senior year of their professional flight training program to apply to the Delta Propel program. Now, there are currently 17 universities that are eligible for the Delta Propel program. If successfully selected, these students will be required by Delta to instruct for the institution that they have been a student at until reaching 1,000 total time and meeting the restricted ATP requirements, then transitioning to their only partner regional being Endeavor Airlines. Once the time-building commitment of attaining 24 calendar months as an Endeavor captain is completed, that person will then transition to Delta as a pilot.
The third pathway is via a sponsor association, also called the community pathway. Now, if a pilot is not currently a junior or senior at one of the 17 partnering universities but is enrolled in their junior or senior year of college, or is an active flight instructor within six months of graduating from another 1,000-hour RATP college, and are currently involved with a large organization like National Gay Pilots Association, Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals, or Women in Aviation, then those organizations can actually sponsor that recommend and recommend them to the Propel program. Now, once accepted, the pilot would then have to complete the required training at their respective university program, flight instruct for that institution to RATP minimums, and then transition to Endeavor and complete the 24 months captain requirement before being able to transition from Endeavor to Delta.
Now, the fourth and most open option for people of no special circumstances is via the Propel Flight Academy. This program allows people to apply openly to the Propel program by meeting the eligible requirements. Now, if accepted, the candidate must go through a second selection process with Skyborne Flight School for technical analysis. Then, if successful, will be required to complete an HR interview with Delta. Once accepted by attending through this particular pathway, Delta will give financing options where Delta will pay the interest of the loan during the flight training portion of the program. The program requires the student to complete all required flight training at Skyborne Aviation in Vero Beach, Florida, then will also be required to flight instruct with Skyborne until reaching 1,500 hours. So, the commitment is from the beginning of flight training through reaching 1,500 hours, all with Skyborne. Now, once reaching 1,500 hours, students can be nominated by Skyborne to then be able to apply to receive up to a $20,000 training credit that will be awarded on a case-by-case basis, predicated on student performance and overall character. However, this credit is by no means guaranteed. At 1,500 hours, the pilot will be required to start flying at Endeavor Airlines and fly with Endeavor until having 24 months as an active captain. Once the pilot has been an active captain at Endeavor for 24 months, they will then be eligible for transition to Delta.
The fifth and last entry point to make about Delta's Propel program is that they will also allow a military pathway. Where a collegiate student in the Propel program via the collegiate pathway can graduate from a partner Propel university as a Propel student and then build time by joining the Air National Guard, the Air Force, or the Air Force Reserve as a pilot and retain their Propel offer throughout their military commitment. Once they have received their wings and completed their duty and are eligible to seek non-military employment, they will be able to transition directly to Delta without having to enter via the Endeavor regional transition point.
And lastly, but not least, now to transition to the United Aviate. United Aviate program. United Airlines is the third of three Legacy US passenger carriers of the United States. United has partial ownership in two regional airlines, being CommutAir and Mesa Airlines. In 2019, United Airlines started its own pathway pipeline to the carrier and named the pipeline United Aviate. The purpose of Aviate is much like its competitors in that it gives the airlines the ability to locate, track, and monitor the progress of the Aviate participants and keep track of their flight training progress, reliability, character profiles, and keep track of all of those from the primary stages of flight training through the flight time building and experience building milestones required to transition to United. The pathway intends to pipe students through approved flight training colleges and flight training institutions, monitor progress of time building, transition the candidates into the United Express through ecosystem, which includes, on top of that, three Part 135 carriers, which are Ahaera Flight, JSX, and Tradewinds.
Now, the next piece of information is a big differentiator in transition requirements depending on how one was trained. Once completing 1,600 hours as a captain at any of the six carriers as an Aviate program participant, or 1,200 hours as a captain as having previously graduated from the Aviate Academy, the candidate will transition to United Airlines within four months of completing their time requirement, as long as United Airlines is hosting classes. The secondary function of the pipeline is that it gives increased levels of staffing assurance to its regional and Part 135 partners, which ultimately support the greater United network. It does this by enforcing minimum first officer and captain time-building requirements and maintaining brand loyalty through the pipeline. United Aviate has two different advertised pathways with seven total entry points. The first pathway is via the United Aviate Academy, and the other six being through the United Aviate program. Ultimately, the Aviate Academy feeds into the Aviate program. Lastly, each Aviate participant will be given a United Aviate coach that will give at minimum quarterly hour-long meetings with an active United Aviate pilot for career mentorship and guidance. As a perk to being in the Aviate Academy, United will give each participant travel privileges starting after six months of being active in the Aviate Academy or Aviate program, and then include travel privileges for a travel companion after 12 months active in Aviate. Aviate also hosts several events across the country per year where participants can be flown to events to participate and collaborate with other Aviate participants.
Now, let's discuss the differences, starting with the Aviate Academy. The Aviate Academy is a United Airlines-owned, 340,000-square-foot flight training facility located in Goodyear, Arizona, with 25 United-owned Cirrus SR20 aircraft. The Aviate Academy was started in 2020 and has grown exponentially over the years. This school features dozens of flight instructors, 25 Cirrus SR20 aircraft equipped with G1000 state-of-the-art avionics. This Academy, in my personal opinion, is United's crown jewel, and it is the only Legacy-owned flight school to date. The Aviate Academy is the only portion of Aviate that one can apply to without holding a private pilot's license. So, this application window opens infrequently and can, as a result, be highly, highly competitive. If having a successful application, one will fly out an interview with a panel to evaluate behavioral and any technical skills at that time. Once receiving an offer to start training, the candidate will be placed into a class within two to four months of the offer. The Aviate Academy offers 195 dorm rooms priced from $750 to $1,100 per month. The Private Pilot Course estimates a three-month completion period and is considered a probationary period. Therefore, following the completion of Private Pilot, that pilot will then be pushed into a standards and review board to determine eligibility to be fully accepted into the United Aviate program and continue training with the Aviate Academy.
Once fully accepted into the Aviate program after attaining one's PPL at the Academy, students are eligible to apply for scholarships through United Airlines and Chase, who have pledged over $2.4 million in total combined scholarships. Pilots have the ability to have their CFI and CFII sponsored and paid for by United Airlines on a case-by-case basis, depending on the student's progress, excellence, and performance throughout training. Aviate estimates that the entire training program should take about one year to complete from private to CFI. And following completion of the full training program, the student will then enter the Aviate program, where they can choose to build flight hours working for the Aviate Academy, a partner university, a partner flight school, a partner 135, or they can elect to build time at a local airport by instructing, getting a job, any job, exercising commercial pilot privileges, such as flying surveying, faing, or any type of external 135 time building. All of that to be said, there are basically no restrictions to building time to remain in the pipeline. Once near to reaching ATP minimums, the participant will be required to apply to one of United's partner airlines, including GoJet, Mesa, and CommutAir, and the other three, Tradewinds, JSX, or Ahaera Flight. Upon being successful, the participant will continue to fly for that carrier as a first officer, then upgrade to captain, and once reaching 1,200 hours as a captain at the chosen airline partner, the candidate will then be entered into the transition portal to transition to United Airlines within four months.
Now, we're going to flip the page and, aside from the Aviate Academy, the second and third entry points will be combined due to their similarity in nature. These two entry points are the flight school and university entry points. Now, pay close attention because these details matter. Aviate, as a program, does not have one specific training point like the Aviate Academy. Rather, it functions much like Delta Propel and the American Airlines Cadet Academy, where a candidate can apply via enrollment with several different institutions as their primary entry point. To be eligible to apply, one must hold a private pilot certificate, first or second-class medical, and hold a high school diploma or GED. United has seven different non-collegiate entry points, including ATP, CSA, Epic Flight Academy, Phoenix East Aviation, United Aviate Academy, UND Aerospace Foundation, and the US Aviation Academy. It also has 19 collegiate university entry points to include schools like Embry-Riddle, Auburn, Kent State, UNO, UND, WSU. To be eligible to apply to Aviate via the university pipeline, students must be working towards or graduated with at least a degree that provides eligibility for a restricted ATP certificate, or have attained a professional pilot degree, or have attained a commercial pilot certificate with an instrument rating from one of those partner flight schools. For eligibility to apply via an associated flight school, one must be currently pursuing or have previously received a commercial pilot certificate with an instrument rating from a participating partner flight school. To include this list of objectives: hold a minimum of a private pilot certificate, hold a valid FAA medical certificate that was originally issued as a first or second-class medical certificate, have no more than two certified regulatory check ride failures, such as part 121 or part 135 training failures, and no more than three total check ride failures, and this is inclusive of primary training failures, such as private pilot, instrument pilot, and commercial. Lastly, you must be in good standing with your participating Aviate professional flight school, and you must have a high school diploma or GED equivalent.
The fourth entry point is the building experience point, where a candidate, having completed a bachelor's degree that grants RATP eligibility, or having attained a commercial pilot's license with an instrument rating through a partner flight school or college that allows an individual to apply into Aviate in the time-building phase of their journey. This is acceptable because that person has completed flight school at that partner university or associated flight school from the list mentioned earlier. The fifth entry point is via working for a United Express carrier, where someone currently working for a United Aviate regional carrier, to include Ahaera Flight, JSX, Tradewinds, Mesa, CommutAir, or GoJet, can apply into Aviate and then complete their 1,600-hour time requirement, then transition to United within four months of completing their commitment. The sixth entry point is the United Aviate's Family program, which allows any United employee, child of a United employee, or former United flight ops intern to apply directly into Aviate, regardless of the amount of flight time completed, flight school attended, or college or university completed. This program allows someone to enter the Aviate pipeline, then complete college or flight training at one of the approved flight schools if not already completed, then progress through the Aviate pipeline. The seventh and last entry point to United Aviate is to be nominated by a professional organization recognized by United Airlines, such as NGPA, OBAP, or Women in Aviation, as an example, where a currently enrolled participant in this organization can be sponsored by that organization based on exemplary character, participation, leadership, and more.
Now, I'm going to go through 17 different comparison points and try to do what I think I do best, and that's find ways to quantify a topic for the analytical number lovers like myself. Now, I've chosen comparison points that I feel are important to someone looking at pipeline strategies and try to create comparison points that exploit education topics for further understanding and deeper context beyond just the basics of how the programs operate. That being said, I'm going to go through 17 different topics and give a score for each program and each topic, and also give my explanation for why I chose to give that score to that program and that pipeline for that subject. At the end, I'll add up the scores to see how the program's total scores compare against each other. Now, each category gets a score of 0 to 3. A zero means it doesn't satisfy the category and subject by any metric. A one means it satisfies the program subject, but it's the worst performer of the three. A two means that it satisfies the requirement nicely, and or there is an obvious winner, which will get a score of three. Now, let's roll into the comparisons and breakdowns.
The first comparison breakdown is going to be discussing entry points. Entry points provide value to people trying to find a way into the specific pipeline. Therefore, the more entry points, the more attainable pipeline entry is for a given person. Delta's Propel program has five different entry point categories that I mentioned earlier, where United has seven total entry point categories, and American only has one entry point category. I give scores of 1 to 3 for these because there are obvious winners and losers here. I give United Aviate a three, Delta Propel a two, and American a one, since scoring is purely based on how many categories there are.
The cost of flight training completion is probably the largest barrier to entry for any given person. That being said, the cost is important. With American Airlines Cadet Academy, flight schools, Delta Propel Academy, and United Aviate Academy all costing right at $100,000, it's important to see where these programs are different. I give a score of one for American's Cadet Academy and Delta's Propel program because they are the same price and compared to the cost of $250,000 a degree from Embry-Riddle, significantly cheaper than that alternative. But lastly, I give United a two because United's Aviate is also $100,000, but the big difference is that the program is a fixed cost and doesn't have a variable cost attached to its program, meaning if delays are encountered, there won't be a ballooning associated with having to pay more due to that delay. I would like to see one particular program that's $5 or $10,000 less than the others, so that's why no programs got a three.
The third comparison point is based on the total number of flight schools in the pipeline that are eligible entry/training points. This is important for people that want to join the program because the more training facilities, the more geographic possibilities people have to attain training without relocating, which can also be cost-advantageous by having multiple schools to compare cost of flight training prices. Since Delta's Propel program has 14 entry points, it gets a score of two. American's Cadet Academy only has a score of one since it only has seven schools, and United's Aviate program gets a score of three because it has 27 flight schools in its network, giving it the largest variety of flight training programs for entry points.
The scoring for this fourth category is simple. All programs offer housing for their training academies and are roughly the same accommodations and costs. Therefore, all programs get a score of two. Do with programs being offered, but nothing extraordinary or subordinate. Estimated time to completion for all programs is one year, which is industry standard among non-collegiate flight training programs, so all three programs receive a score of two for being standard.
Flight benefits are a huge benefit to participants. One, it gives them a chance to gain more exposure to the airline that they're hoping to fly for one day. Two, it gives the applicants a taste of what it will be like to be an airline employee one day. And three, who doesn't love the idea of cheap travel? So, I'll start with Delta for scoring purposes. Delta does give its participants travel benefits on Delta Airlines and Delta Connection aircraft, but only when they are within six months of completing their program. So, for example, being in the final semester of Auburn, within six months of completing their flight training at the Propel Academy, they retain their flight benefits until they transition to Endeavor, where then they'll receive their new benefits. For these reasons, they receive a score of two.
United Aviate gives travel privileges to its participants after just six months of being in the Aviate program. This means they could be in their freshman year of college or even working on their instrument with a school like ATP. Participants are then allowed to add a travel companion of their choice after 12 months of active participation in Aviate and will retain these travel privileges until they transition to a regional or 135 carrier. So, for this purpose, they receive a score of three, since they are far less restrictive compared to Delta Propel's travel privileges package. American receives a score of zero since they do not permit their participants of any type to travel privileges at any point throughout their American Airlines Cadet Academy journey.
The seventh comparison point is determining if candidates will receive a Legacy pilot mentor. All three airlines offer Legacy pilot mentors for participants in each pipeline to the Legacy carrier. They are all essentially the same and offer no greater benefits than the other. However, I do find these programs valuable since I myself am a United Aviate coach, so I give a score of two for all of these programs since they are relatively equal.
I put a lot of value in the concept of an airline owning its own flight school. I believe it shows not just the financial commitment to training pilots to fly for that carrier, but it ultimately shows the commitment to the people in the program. United Aviate is the standout program for this category since it is the only Legacy-owned flight school today. I give Aviate a score of two for being at the forefront of the pipeline programs. I give a score of zero to Propel and Cadet Academy since they do not own any flight training centers and operate purely on an alliance basis only with other externally owned flight schools.
I like when programs recognize their participants by doing events and activities that give participants an opportunity to collaborate and meet other participants and ultimately recognize their successes. For that reason, I appreciate how Propel and Aviate both recognize their participants by flying them to a specific location, giving them an orientation opportunity, giving them a hotel to stay in, and showing them how important they really are. Propel and Aviate both receive a score of two for being the only programs with these types of special events. American receives a score of one since they have on occasion had some types of events where participants could visit for special occasions, but they do not advertise any type of monthly opportunities to participate in events around the country.
Regional entry points are important to prospective pilots because they give a larger variety of base options, which opens more opportunities for commuting or even living in base for the more fortunate. The more entry points means better flexibility of a pilot is offered to getting to the Legacy carrier of their choosing. For this reason, Delta Propel only gets a score of one since it only has one option for someone to fly for Delta. The American Cadet Academy gets a score of two because it has three different entry points, which increases the variety of base options for someone spending say 6 to 13 years prior to flowing to American. United Aviate receives a score of three because it has a total of six carriers which can be flown for as a transition point to United, and also has the only West Coast-based carrier in the transition carrier category when compared to the other two. This is important because it offers the most geographically diverse basing options for people wanting to join United through the Aviate program.
Time requirements to transition to the Legacy carrier are different for each airline, and we can get really down into the weeds on this subject, so I'll try my best to keep it surface level. I'll start with American's Cadet Academy since American only allows pilots to flow from American from one of their three wholly owned carriers. They actually score the lowest with a score of one because the flow is extremely unpredictable and can easily take upwards of a decade to transition to Legacy American. This works most in favor of American because it increases the staffing levels for longer periods of time at the American regional wholly owned airlines.
Where Delta Propel requires participants to transition to just one carrier, being Endeavor, but then allows someone to be eligible to transition to Delta after 24 months of being an active captain at Endeavor and then being placed in a line to flow. This means someone could upgrade from being a first officer in say 24 months, then achieve 24 months as an active captain, totaling four years on property. Today, Endeavor pilots are flowing to Delta through this program with roughly 5 to 6 years on property. This means someone would achieve four years on property via the captain requirement, then be subjected to wait another year or two to transition to Delta. Currently, on the other hand, with United Aviate, once a pilot reaches their commitment, United will transition them to Legacy United within four months of reaching their eligibility. A pilot is required to fly only 1,600 hours as a captain for one of the six transition carriers if not trained by the Aviate Academy, and only 1,200 hours as a captain if trained by the United Aviate Academy. Since Aviate offers the most ideal situation with only requiring 1,200 hours to transition to United, I see this as having the largest advantage. Getting to a Legacy with Aviate, a pilot could upgrade in a year and a half at a partner regional, then get their 1,200 hours as a captain in as little as another year and a half, and then transition within four months after that. So, someone trained at the United Aviate Academy could work really, really hard, control their destiny, and meet the transition requirements in as little as three to three and a half years, and then transition to United with the 1,600-hour PIC requirement. The difference would be maybe an extra four or five months. Let's just say it's safe to assume that someone can reasonably be completely transitioned and in-class at United within four years of starting at one of the UAX carriers.
In summary, American Airlines Cadet Academy requires 6 to 13 years at a regional partner, so it receives a score of one. Delta Propel requires 5 to 6 years at a partner regional and thus receives a score of two. United Aviate requires 3 and a half to 4 years at an Aviate partner regional, showing that it is mathematically possible to be the fastest pathway to United and a Legacy, so it receives a score of three for this category.
How a candidate is allowed to build flight time after training program completion is important because it can make it very simple, convenient, and effective for a participant to build the required hours to accomplish RATP requirements to transition to a regional. Delta is the only program that requires you to stay and instruct for that association that you were accepted in from. This makes commitments to the flight school two to three times greater than that of just flight training. A candidate doesn't even have the opportunity of instructing for another flight school, which makes this time-building commitment the most restrictive commitment of the three programs in the time-building requirements. Because of this, Propel receives a score of one, and the American Airlines Cadet Academy receives a score of two since they do not have any type of restriction to time building. United Aviate receives a score of three because it not only gives the participants an opportunity to build flight time freely, but it also has three airlines of which are Ahaera Flight, Tradewinds, and JSX, that give low-time opportunities to build time that actually counts towards the time requirements to transition directly to United without having to fly for the main UAX three regional carriers. So, because Aviate has no restrictions on time building and offers low-time partnerships with transition carriers directly to United Airlines, Aviate receives a score of three for this category.
The next category is to compare financing options. Propel, Aviate, and the Cadet Academy all offer their own alliances with lending firms that give interest rates as educational loans versus just getting a personal loan, which tends to have a much better interest rate in the long run. Because they are all the same, all are scored with the same score of two.
When it comes to scholarship availability, Propel and the Cadet Academy make it seemingly impossible to find any source of scholarship available within the ecosystem of the Propel or American Airlines Cadet Academy, where United Aviate has partnered with Chase to both give $1.2 million total, $2.4 million towards scholarships for participants within the Aviate Academy. Now, I want to be clear, this is for the Aviate Academy students flying at the United Aviate Academy in Goodyear, Arizona, only, and not the entirety of the Aviate program. Because Aviate has scholarships available to its Academy students, but not the Aviate program as a whole, I give it a score of two. For Propel and the Cadet Academy, I give them a score of zero since they have no established internal scholarship program.
Propel and Aviate offer their own versions of tuition reimbursement. The Propel Academy offers up to $20,000 after program completion on a case-by-case scenario, predicated on excellence, and once completing 1,500 hours as a CFI for the Academy. Aviate offers to pay for their CFI and CFII at the Academy after successful completion of multi-engine. So, how do these two programs compare? Well, Delta Propel offers the opportunity to get credit back, but on a case-by-case scenario, where United Aviate will pay for the CFI and CFII upfront. The upfront value of both programs are essentially identical, but you stand to actually spend less with Aviate since there is such a massive scholarship pool to draw from as well. Because of this, I give both Aviate and Propel a score of two, where the American Airlines Cadet Academy does not offer any type of tuition reimbursement for the program credit, so it gets a score of zero.
All three programs offer their own preferred lender programs. However, the amount of lender options give further options to explore discounts and more competitive rates. This is why the total number of lenders is important for someone exploring pipeline options. For this reason, Delta Propel and the American Cadet Academy each receive a score of one because they only have one in-house lender, being the Delta Propel Loan Program and the American Airlines Credit Union, whereas United Aviate receives a score of two for having three different preferred lender options, to include Zuni, Sally Mae, and Liberty Bank.
The last comparison point is having pipeline interview credit. Now, this is particularly important because it gives a guaranteed job throughout the entire pipeline and even including the transition regional. For example, United Aviate and the American Airlines Cadet Academy only allow someone into the pipeline, but when it comes time for them to transition into a regional, they will then be expected to interview for that specific regional carrier. This means that if, for whatever reason, they fail an interview at all of the pipeline carriers, they will not be allowed to remain in the pipeline.
American allows three different carriers being PSA Envoy and Piedmont for its three transition carriers where candidates flow to American with no further interviews.
United on the other hand offers the UAX three carriers and JSX, Era Flight, and Trade Winds, all of which require a second independent interview to get hired and thus remain in the pipeline. Once at these carriers, they will never have to interview again. They will simply just transition once they have reached their 1,1200 or 1,600-hour PIC time requirement.
For these purposes, the American Airlines Cadet Academy and United Aviate both receive a score of one since they do not have a guaranteed transition job but do offer multiple entry points to allow people ample chance of success for finding a job at a transition carrier. Delta Propel receives a score of three since acceptance into Delta Propel guarantees not just a no-interview job at Delta but also a guaranteed no-interview job at Endeavor Airlines, its only transition regional partner.
In conclusion, the United Aviate program receives an overall score of 39, while Delta Propel trails with a score of 27, and the American Airlines Cadet Academy falls last with a score of 19. Now, I believe these scores accurately quantify the distinct value of each program by being compared to one another.
Now, in my personal opinion, after having previously recruited for the American Airlines Cadet Academy and now currently being a recruiter for the United Aviate program, and then comparing both of these programs directly against the Delta Propel program, I find that the total scoring resulting from these comparison points are really, really accurate and reflect the true overall value of each program.
Now, if you don't agree with my scoring, then I welcome you to go back and do your own scoring on all 17 topics and let me know in the comments below how your scores fared out compared to mine and why they were different.
Now, I'm going to summarize the upsides and downsides of each program. This is going to be my personal opinion of the best and worst of each pipeline. After reading through the other carriers' programs on their websites, I have found that American Cadet Academy and Delta's Propel program websites are very difficult to decipher, vague on rules, and do not explicitly lay out requirements to remain in the program after completion of the primary training and lack a lot of important details, which made it particularly difficult to research, even as someone who is experienced and understanding the language of these pathway programs.
With Delta and the Propel program, I believe the biggest downside is that it is ultimately the most difficult pathway to enter and then remain in because it has the most restrictive entry points and only has one transition airline, creating potential hardship for people that may not live relatively close to any of the potential Endeavor bases or Propel schools. This makes it particularly difficult to enter into the program and simultaneously makes it very geographically restrictive to participants who may not live near one of the bases. The biggest upside of Delta's Propel program is that it gives someone a guaranteed job with Endeavor Airlines and Delta Airlines without ever having to interview again.
With American's Cadet Academy, the biggest downside with American is that it has a very long expected time to transition from one of its American wholly-owned regional airlines directly to Legacy American. This means that even though someone completed the American Airlines Cadet Academy, they have no more priority for a job with American over someone who has zero affiliation with American until hired at a wholly-owned regional. The estimated flow time is between six and 13 years, with the current flow time being around eight to nine years. That's nearly double the length of time to transition to a legacy carrier when compared to United or Delta's expected transition timelines of four to six years.
Now, for the American Cadet Academy upside, the only benefit to American's Academy is it allows a participant to freely build flight time until reaching RATP minimums. Their website only mentions the preferred route of being flying for the cadet academy flight schools, but that is not contractually bound. I will be completely frank. Now, trying to find any other upside to American Cadet Academy is actually very difficult because every other category that actually scores is equally scored or outperformed by the other two competitors. So, if I had to say one other thing that is good about the program is that it has flow, which is also the worst part about the academy, making the flow program a massive catch-22.
With United's Aviate Academy, there are several large upsides that differentiate it among its competitors. Those upsides are that it offers the largest variety of entry points, the largest collegiate and flight school pathway footprint, the largest amount of transition partners to United Airlines, and the quickest timeline to transition to the respective legacy. The only downside to the Aviate program is that it does not offer a guaranteed job through its transition airline partners like Delta Propel. Therefore, similar to American, even if you're accepted into Aviate, you will still have to apply and successfully interview with one of the six regional transition partners. Albeit, this is still better than American's pipeline because there are twice as many opportunities to apply for and double the chances for success and to remain in the pathway.
While my analysis may not be flawless, it offers a strong reflection of the value each program provides. Drawing from my personal experience, first as a recruiter for American's Cadet Academy as a PSA pilot, and now with United and United Aviate, directly comparing these programs to Delta Propel, I can confidently assert without bias that United Aviate stands out as the premier pathway to a legacy carrier. Of course, each transition program holds unique value based on an individual's specific goals, circumstances, and ambitions. However, when evaluating these programs comprehensively, the advantages become apparent.
United Aviate, in my view, emerges as the most robust, well-funded, and comprehensive pipeline, offering a significantly larger infrastructure compared to its counterparts with its own flight school, dedicated instructors, aircraft, and an expansive training network. United's commitment to the program and to its participants is undeniable. Furthermore, the flexibility it provides in building flight time post-training, alongside transition requirements based on flight hours, allows the most driven pilots to fast-track their journey to United Airlines, making it uniquely the fastest and most advantageous pathway to the now largest, fastest-growing airline in the industry.
If you can already tell, this video has been an astronomical amount of work, and compiling all of this data and analyzing not just how these airline pathways work, but then sub-analyzing how they compare has been quite the labor of love. Now, I actually made this video at the recommendation from someone that commented on one of my previous videos. So, that being said, I do read all the comments and try my best to respond to everyone. If you have suggestions of a future video, please feel free to drop your suggestions down in the comments. Also, let me know your thoughts and your opinions or even personal experiences from these pipelines and how they favored for you, and if you would recommend these programs for others in the future.
Please show support for my channel by liking this video and subscribing to my channel for future uploads. This is the Pilot Polls channel. My name is Aaron, as in A-A-R-O-N, and it has been an absolute pleasure making this video for your all's education, and I hope it helps you or someone else make a more informed decision that leads to landing your dream job with your dream carrier. Also, feel free to check out some of my other content here and here. Until next time, fly safe and keep chasing those tailwinds.
[Music]