ExpressJet is the world's largest regional airline, operating an average of 2,200 daily flights as Delta Connection, Continental Express and United Express.
A new agreement between Western Michigan University's
College of Aviation and two closely allied commercial air carriers -- ExpressJet and Delta Air Lines -- will get WMU students in the pilot’s cabin more quickly.
WMU/ExpressJet Airline Pilot Pathway Program will allow WMU aviation students to become part of a pilot screening process early in their WMU careers that will prepare them for jobs as first officers with ExpressJet. Students who meet all screening requirements will be guaranteed interviews for positions as pilots with Delta Air Lines.
Students involved will be monitored throughout their academic careers, and they must pass six screening measures and complete WMU's Advanced Jet Training course. They also must earn the appropriate flight certifications, including that of becoming a certified flight instructor.
WMU will help the participating airlines identify students in their freshmen and sophomore years who will agree to meet the highly structured screening process used by other major airlines to select pilots. For those who meet the requirements the likelihood of securing a job as a first officers is good.
When airline representatives were on campus to explain the program school officials expected a small group would show interest. "We expected a couple of dozen students and ended up with more than 90," says Dave Powell, dean of the aviation college.
Nationally and internationally, all signs point to what one aviation association executive calls the longest and largest pilot-hiring boom in the history of the industry. A wave of pilot retirements, growing international travel routes, proposed changes to FAA rules about the time pilots must rest between flights, and an improving U.S. economy is turning around what has been a period of slow personnel growth in the airline industry.
WMU’s College of Aviation has an enrollment of nearly 700 students in three programs--aviation maintenance technology, aviation science and administration, and aviation flight science.
Writer: Kathy Jennings, Second Wave
Source: Cheryl Roland, Western Michigan University
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