Just clarifying, I am inquiring about the United Aviate program and not the United Aviate Academy.
I was speaking to a CFI about regionals and the path to the mainlines. I brought up the Aviate program, and she gave me a warning about it. She stated that the Aviate program is not a good idea as it was created to staff their regionals. This means that even if you reach the amount of PIC time required to transition, they simply won’t hire you in order to keep their regionals staffed. I’m not entirely sure about this because, according to the Aviate program guide, they state that after reaching the flight time requirement, you will transition within the next 4 months. Additionally, she mentioned that if my goal is United, I should avoid all United-affiliated regionals because they want to keep those staffed and will not hire you. I would greatly appreciate some feedback on this.
That timeline is very flexible and is entirely dependent on United staffing needs. Why take qualified CAs from the regionals they depend on when there’re plenty of street candidates applying too. It took a buddy of mine more than 3 years (2 years as a Captain) to go from CommutAir to United under Aviate. 4 months looks good on paper, but it’s nowhere close to reality.
Newsflash, of course any parent company wouldn’t want to pull their most important pilots from their “feeder” routes. I like to think that we as regional pilots supply the majors with their customers from airports they can’t service or have no desire due to business practice. However, timelines vary program to program, just like the flow for PSA versus Piedmont may vary. The larger pilot pool could mean the longer the flow time.
I do have friends in the United Aviate program who enjoy their time there and informed me the program is competitive (like all cadet/pathway). The other thing about these cadet/pathway programs is they’re great to have in the back pocket.
Gotta be careful with anything of this nature. Forget anything with “guarantee” in it, there’s no such thing. Adam was right all along, no such thing as a guarantee in aviation. Its all marketing to get people in the door and sign on the line.
In my flight school research, I looked deeply into a flight school owned by a regional. Similar thing as aviate, get your ppl, ifr, csel, cmel, cfi, cfii and youre “guaranteed” either a CFI spot at that school or time building thru a 135 affiliate, then “guaranteed” FO spot once you hit 1500. I got ahold of the actual training contract and in plain language it states “no guarantee of employment”, and hiring into the parent regional is dependent on their staffing needs. Then there was a thread on APC about a lawsuit against a number of students who completed the program and time building, then while waiting on a class date, went and flew for compensation elsewhere. Then there are significant financial penalties for leaving the program or getting kicked out, along with 2 pages of reasons to get kicked out.
Be very careful, read the contract, have a lawyer read thru all the legalese, and then make a decision
That is very interesting. Personally I would have considered 3 years at a regional to be a relatively short amount of time. Just clarifying, when I say 4 months I am saying that after getting 1600 PIC hours at an aviate regional, within 4 months you will move to united. Is this actually what happened to your friend. I would greatly appreciate this information and I thank you very much for your quick response!
No, he stayed there well beyond the advertised time. As a comparison, one of my ATP classmates upgraded at Endeavor at around 14 months, and was hired by United about 2 months after upgrade. It took him a while longer to get a class date and get started but he beat every single Aviate timeline and was awarded DEN 737 CA in indoc training. He finished ATP only about 2 months ahead of me and started at United in January 2024. A bit over 5 years from finishing training to UA CA award. Crazy times
You’ll see arguments on both sides. Keep in mind United is going to do what’s best for United AND they’re Regional partners. I’ve seen Aviate participants get hired faster than non and visa versa.
What I don’t like about any of the cadet programs is it shows you have an affinity for a particular Major. This industry changes frequently. While your say you want to fly for United what if when you’re ready they fall in hard times or just aren’t hiring but Delta is and they have a great new contract. Would you but go to Delta? Problem is they’ll know you’re in Aviate will be thinking he’s just coming here temporarily until United calls so we’ll pass. I’ve seen that happen too.
Thank you everyone for you very quick and very helpful responses. Just to confirm I am interpreting all this information correctly, the advertised fact that a class date will be provided 4 months after meeting time requirements is generally false, and it is probably a better idea to not go to a United affiliated regional if my goal is United. Please correct anything if I got it wrong.
Thank you again!
Edit: In terms of not going to a United affiliated regional would SkyWest count towards this and what are your thoughts to the United SkyWest Pilot Pathway Program? Is it the same situation as Aviate? Thank you.
I recommend reaching out to a United Aviate recruiter inquiring about any contractual and/or agreement obligations, especially in regard to the “4 months after meeting time requirements.” I have had friends go through the Skywest Pilot Pathway program and have enjoyed their time. While we may know an answer or two about these programs, they change requirements and program details once and a while, so I would strongly encourage to discuss with recruiters about their advantages and ‘disadvantages.’