ATP Flight School
ATP Flight School is a flight training company based in Jacksonville, Florida with locations across the United States. It offers programs for individuals pursuing careers as commercial pilots, with a focus on airline-oriented training. As the largest flight training provider in the country, ATP Flight School is a major supplier of professionally trained pilots to regional airlines in the United States.
History
ATP Flight School was started by a group of airline pilots in 1984 and is headquartered outside of Jacksonville, Florida. ATP stands for Airline Transport Professionals. The pilots established the school to provide training to U.S. military pilots who were transitioning to commercial air carrier operations. The school's curriculum later expanded to include ab-initio training, as well as other courses for private, multiengine, instrument, commercial, and CFI ratings.In 2014, the school purchased a majority share of Higher Power Aviation, a flight simulator training center based in Dallas and rebranded it as ATP JETS. HPA offered initial type rating and recurrent training to airline, corporate, military, government, and individual aircrew for all models of the Boeing B-727, B-737, B-757, B-767, C-9, MD-80, and Airbus A320. Together, ATP and HPA developed the Airline Transport Pilot Certificate Training Program.
In May 2021, ATP reported that, every month, its then-61 locations provided more than 24,500 hours of flight training, and graduated over 117 commercial multi-engine pilots with CFIs. The company also issued more than 8,600 FAA certificates annually. In the preceding 18 months, 438 ATP graduates were hired by airlines.
In 2022, ATP was the largest civilian aviation training facility in the United States. At the time, it had trained 20,000 pilots.
Schools
ATP Flight School has 81 locations throughout the United States Facilities can be found in Phoenix, Dallas, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Chicago, Denver, Seattle, San Diego, Las Vegas, and other cities.In Dallas, TX, ATP operates a part 142 airline training center called ATP JETS, that provides Airline Transport Pilot Certification Training Program training for ten airlines. It offers full-motion Airbus and Boeing simulators. In November, 2021 ATP JETS graduated its 10,000th ATP CTP student and in November 2023 the 20,000th student graduated the program.
In 2019, the company opened a training center at the Tucson International Airport. It marks ATP's third location in Arizona, with the other two centers located in Mesa and Scottsdale. ATP's Arizona instructors were recognized as the best in the region by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.
In October 2021, ATP Flight School opened a new training center at Arlington Municipal Airport, just outside of Dallas, Texas. It is the largest training facility in Texas and helps support the demand for pilots from Dallas-based airlines like Southwest and American Airlines. The facility includes classroom and briefing spaces; an advanced simulator bay with multiple flight training devices ; an FAA-certified Level 6 Cessna 172 FTD; and a new maintenance facility.
Other ATP schools in the Dallas area can be found at McKinney National Airport and Addison Airport.
In February 2022, ATP opened its 70th flight training center at Allegheny County Airport in Pennsylvania. A few months later, in April, a training center was opened at Page Field in Fort Myers, Florida. The location offers a simulator bay with Frasca TruFlite simulators with immersive 220-degree wrap-around visuals, as well as a dedicated maintenance hangar for the location's multi-engine Piper Seminoles and all-glass cockpit Piper Archers.
In July 2023, ATP Flight School added a new airline pilot training center at Brackett Field in La Verne, California. This was ATP's third training center in the Los Angeles area. Long Beach and Riverside locations were previously established.
In January 2025, ATP Flight School reopened its airline pilot training center at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport after it was closed due to damage sustained during Hurricane Ian in 2022. The facility reopened in February 2025.
Training
ATP Flight School focuses on airline-oriented flight training, operating under a fixed-cost, fixed-timeframe training model. Its primary program is an ab-initio airline pilot training course, which takes students from no prior experience to commercial multi-engine pilot, including certificated flight instructor certifications. Graduates of this program may be offered roles as certified flight instructors, to gain experience and accumulate flight hours to meet airline hiring requirement.As of March 2022, ATP conducted over 1% of all general aviation flight operations in the United States, with a monthly flight time of more than 38,700 hours resulting in students earning 8,344 certificates annually.
Airline Career Pilot Program
The Airline Career Pilot Program is a fixed-cost flight training program designed for students with no prior experience. The program takes approximately twelve months to complete, during which students earn Commercial Pilot and Flight Instructor certificates. The training consists of full-time flight and simulator lessons, ground school and independent study. Throughout the program, students receive support and mentorship from local training specialists who assist in managing their progress. After completing the program, graduates may be hired as flight instructors at ATP for around 18 months to gain experience and meet airline hiring requirements. During this period, they may also be eligible for airline-sponsored tuition reimbursement and direct airline programs. In 2022, ATP stated its goal to graduate 20,000 airline pilots by 2030.Airline Transport Pilot Certification Training Program
In August 2015, the FAA approved the company's airline transport pilot certification training program, which is offered at ATP's ATP JETS training center in Dallas. By November 2023, more than 20,000 students had graduated from the program.Indiana Wesleyan University partnership
In December 2022, Indiana Wesleyan University-National & Global partnered with ATP to create degree pathways for pilots who complete their FAA certificates through ATP. ATP alumni who enroll at the university can count their flight training experience as degree credit and receive a tuition discount on certain programs.Fleet
ATP Flight School operates the largest multi-engine training fleet in the world, which consists primarily of Piper Seminoles, along with one Cessna CE-525 CitationJet. The school's single-engine fleet includes a mix of Piper Archers and Cessna CE-172 Skyhawks.Fleet Growth
ATP Flight School initially used Cessna Skyhawks as its primary training aircraft before adding Piper Archers to its fleet. By 2009, the company operated 142 aircraft, including 86 Piper Seminoles, 50 Cessna 172s, five Diamond Stars, and one CitationJet. In 2011, ATP and Piper Aircraft Inc. announced the sale of 30 new Piper Seminoles, valued at $18 million, with the aircraft equipped with Garmin's G500 glass cockpit avionics suite, bringing the total number of aircraft with this technology to 270.In April, 2013, ATP reached an agreement with Piper Aircraft to purchase up to 100 Piper Archers, with deliveries beginning later that year. These aircraft were standardized with the Garmin G500 avionics suite. By September 2017, ATP's fleet included approximately 100 Cessna Skyhawks and 55 Piper Archers. In 2018, ATP announced a second order for 100 additional Piper Archers, with the 100th Archer delivered on September 19, 2018. ATP renewed this order in 2020 for another 100 planes.
In 2019, ATP placed an order for 100 Cessna Skyhawks, scheduled for delivery through 2023. In October 2022, ATP reached an agreement with Textron Aviation for the purchase of 55 additional Skyhawks, with deliveries set to begin in late 2023 and continue through 2024. ATP ordered another 40 Skyhawks in January 2024, with deliveries starting in 2026. This marked the fourth fleet purchase by ATP in just over a year, totaling 135 Skyhawks.
As of November 2022, ATP Flight School maintained a fleet of 550 aircraft across more than 75 locations, consisting of the following:
| Aircraft | Cruising Speed | Range | Number in ATP Fleet | References |
| Piper Archer TXs | 128 ktas / 237 km/h | 522 nm / 967 km | 230 | |
| Piper PA-44 Seminole | 162 ktas / 300 km/h | 700 nm / 1,426 km | 100 | |
| Cessna 172 | 124 ktas / 230 km/h | 640 nm / 1185 km | 227 |
Training devices and simulators
ATP Flight School operates 134 Flight Training Devices, including the Frasca Piper Seminole Truflite FTDs with GNS 430, AATD, Redbird, CRJ-200, and Full Flight Simulators that are full motion, Level D simulators.In March 2022, ATP purchased 20 advanced aviation training devices from Frasca International. The devices are equipped with Garmin G1000 avionics, and feature “220-degree wrap-around visuals and active control loading paired with modeled flight data to replicate the aerodynamics and control feedback of the actual aircraft.” They were configured to represent the flight decks of either Piper Archers or Cessna Skyhawks.
Maintenance Centers
As of 2024, ATP operates 26 dedicated maintenance centers to ensure the reliability of its fleet. The largest of these maintenance bases is located at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.Airline hiring relationships
ATP Flight School has hiring relationships with 37 U.S. based regional airlines, major airlines, and corporate operators, including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Envoy, Frontier, Avelo, Spirit, Wheels Up, Sun Country, Republic Airways, Jet Linx, Ameriflight, SkyWest Airlines, Endeavor Air, Mesa Airlines,PSA Airlines, and United Airlines. Through these partnerships, a limited number of top graduates from ATP's professional pilot program are eligible to be interviewed for entry-level positions. ATP was the first flight school to initiate airline-paid tuition reimbursement.As of March, 2022, the flight school reported having 1,210 airline placements in the past 12 months, which is the highest ratio of airline placements to students of any flight school, aviation college, or flight academy.