JetBlue Launches Pilot-Career Program

JetBlue Airways has launched a career-planning and mentoring program aimed at finding and recruiting candidates who have strong potential to become top-quality airline pilots. Regional airline Cape Air, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and the University of North Dakota are also partners in the program. Credit: AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams

JetBlue Airways has launched a career-planning and mentoring program aimed at finding and recruiting candidates who have strong potential to become top-quality airline pilots. Regional airline Cape Air, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and the University of North Dakota are also partners in the program. Credit: AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams

JetBlue Airways has created a career-planning and mentoring program designed to identify and recruit talented men and women as professional airline pilots.

Named the Aviation University Gateway, the new program aims to combine rigorous academic training and regional-airline piloting experience to create a clearly defined career path for aspiring pilots, beginning early in an aviator's college career and culminating in the possibility of a final interview at a major airline.

JetBlue, known for its innovative service standards, is partnering with aviation programs at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and the University of North Dakota to fill the Aviation University Gateway's pipeline with candidates who demonstrate exceptional potential as professional pilots.

In addition, as the program's first regional airline partner, Massachusetts-based Cape Air will provide Aviation University Gateway participants with flying experience prior to interviewing at JetBlue.

"We are proud to be the first airline to provide the mentoring and structure for a student from early on in his or her university career, all the way through to the right seat of a JetBlue aircraft," said Dean Melonas, JetBlue Airways' vice president of recruitment. "We look forward to taking the mystery out of the pilot career path with the Aviation University Gateway program."

"Airlines like ours want to attract the best employees and pilots in their formative years," said Dave Bushy, Cape Air's chief operating officer. "We feel that Cape Air can provide some of the finest aviation experience in the world, while also flying to some beautiful destinations."

The Aviation University Gateway path is open to Embry-Riddle or North Dakota students with high academic standing (a grade point average of 3.0 or above) and recommendations from their professors. It requires a successful series of interviews with JetBlue and a regional airline partner, as well as the continued enrollment in an Aviation Accreditation Board International (ABBI)-accredited aviation program.

During the Gateway program, participants will intern at Cape Air (and eventually other regional airline partners) and then serve as instructors at their respective flight schools. Following that process, candidates will fly with Cape Air for at least two years and then will be eligible for a final interview at JetBlue Airways.

Coincidentally or otherwise, Lufthansa, the German airline famous for the excellence of its technical and training standards, has newly purchased a sizeable minority stake in JetBlue Airways.

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