ATP Opens Training and Fleet MRO Facility in Arlington, Texas

ATP Flight School has opened a new advanced pilot training center at the Arlington Municipal Airport (KGKY) in Arlington, Texas, adding to their 30-year history of training pilots in the Dallas area. The new 13,875 square-foot facility has been designed to address the need for airline pilots in the future as the industry rebounds from the COVID-19 pandemic. Other ATP schools in the Dallas metro area include training facilities at McKinney National Airport (KTKI) and Addison Airport (KADS), and ATP JETS in Dallas which offers full-motion Airbus and Boeing simulators.

New classroom and briefing spaces at the KGKY facility complement an advanced simulator bay containing multiple flight training devices (FTDs) and a new state-of-the-art FAA-certified Level 6 Cessna 172 FTD specifically designed for advanced training. A new maintenance facility adjacent to the flight training center will service the school’s fleet of multi-engine Piper Seminoles and new Garmin G1000-equipped Cessna 172s.

Michael Arnold, ATP’s director of marketing explained that the nationwide chain of flight schools has set a goal of training 20,000 pilots by 2030 to fill open positions at more than 30 airline partners, including Dallas-based regional airline Envoy Air (a direct path to American Airlines) as well as Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, United Airlines, and many others. “With more alumni having gone on to fly for American Airlines than any other major airline, ATP is proud to make this investment in Dallas,” Arnold said. “The increased capabilities of the new Arlington flight training center will be crucial in meeting the training demands post-pandemic. Airlines are hiring, and COVID-related early retirements combined with mandatory retirements are creating a pilot shortage. Pilots who train today and get to the airlines first will be competitively positioned to establish their career and capitalize on this opportunity.”

ATP has been training flight students for more than 35 years, and the company’s statistics bear that out. Each month, their 61 locations provide more than 24,500 hours of flight training using a training fleet that includes 431 aircraft, including around 25 of those located at the Arlington training center. Each month, the school graduates more than 117 commercial multi-engine pilots with CFIs, and issues more than 8,600 FAA certificates annually. In the last 18 months, ATP reports 438 of their graduates have been hired by the airlines.

The company stated that aspiring pilots can start ATP’s Airline Career Pilot Program with zero experience and potentially finish in nine months as a commercial multiengine pilot and certificated flight instructor (CFI, CFII, MEI) for a fixed cost of $83,995. ATP works with multiple lenders to offer full financing, which can cover the entire cost of pilot training and living expenses during training. Flexible repayment options allow for deferment of loan payments and assist students with the transition from flight training to airline pilot.