Business View Magazine | May/June 2022

9 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 5 ATP FLIGHT SCHOOL UNVEILS NEW 19,000 SQUARE-FOOT AIRLINE PILOT TRAINING CENTER IN FORT MYERS Spirit Airlines Provides Fastest Track to Pilot Career with ATP-Exclusive Spirit Direct Program A TP Flight School recently unveiled its newest airline pilot training center at Page Field (FMY) in Fort Myers, FL. Up to 200 aspiring airline pilots will join ATP during an open house, previewing the recently constructed 19,000 square-foot facility. To celebrate the opening of the new training center and the launch of the ATP-exclusive Spirit Direct Program earlier this year, Spirit will be flying in an Airbus A320neo to ATP’s open house at Fort Myers on April 29. Attendees will be able to tour the aircraft, part of Spirit’s growing fleet, which is planned to gain 24 new planes this year for a projected fleetwide total of 197 by the end of 2022. Spirit plans to accept another 33 planes in 2023 as well. Under the partnership, ATP flight instructors can progress straight to a first officer position with Spirit at 1,500 hours. Spirit recruiters will be hosting pre-scheduled, onsite interviews for eligible ATP flight instructors and information sessions for future and current students. The Fort Myers facility is the second newly- constructed airline training center ATP has opened in less than a year, with a 25,875 square- foot facility in Arlington, TX starting operations last fall. Both join ATP’s 70 nationwide locations and were designed to efficiently deliver ATP’s Airline Career Pilot Program, which takes students from zero time to flight instructors in just seven months. At Fort Myers, open and inviting common areas bring together ample classroom, briefing, and testing spaces. An OPENING L INES