After decades, Lufthansa is giving up the traditional training location in Goodyear, Arizona. According to Lufthansa Aviation Training Managing Director Matthias Spohr, the training center will be handed over to the United Aviate Academy, a subsidiary of United Airlines. The flight school of the American Lufthansa partner is to take over part of the training for up to 300 pilot candidates from Germany.
The decision is part of the highly controversial reconstruction of pilot training that the group decided in the wake of the corona pandemic. Lufthansa has currently stopped the training of all pilot trainees due to a lack of demand, which is why numerous lawsuits from trainees are pending. In addition, she has decided to relocate the part of the practical training that has so far taken place in Germany from Bremen to Rostock and to use only propeller planes instead of small jets.
According to Spohr, the first new pilot course should start in the third quarter of 2022. Unlike in the past, the candidates will undergo a uniform training course and no longer two different ones, depending on whether they are intended for the core brand Lufthansa or other airlines within the Group or outside of it. In doing so, they will acquire the so-called Air Transport Pilot License (ATPL). Then they still have to get the type rating for a certain type of aircraft. There is as yet no financial aid for any of this in the new system. According to Spohr, however, talks should take place with airlines in the Lufthansa Group about possible scholarships.
At the beginning of the training, the candidates do not receive a takeover guarantee; they have to complete the courses at their own risk. According to Spohr, the students at Lufthansa Aviation Training should be given preference for jobs in the group. However, it is not foreseeable when there will be a need for new pilots again, at least for the core brand.
Making a stop at Goodyear has been an integral part of training for decades. Half a year of theory training in Bremen was followed by about half a year of flight training in Arizona. The location was chosen mainly because of the consistently good weather. Afterwards, flying in Bremen was planned for another six months. In future, the students will only complete their theory in Bremen, then practice six months at United in Goodyear and then move to Rostock.