United Airlines has needed to address the ever-increasing requirement for pilot training capacity, and it has completed the initial stage of doing just that at its hub in Denver, Colorado.
The airline recently completed the first phase of expansion of its Flight Training Center, bringing the total footprint up to 700,000 square feet, making it the largest pilot training facility in the world, according to the company. For those keeping track, United now has eight buildings dedicated to pilot development at the Denver Stapleton campus.
To make it happen, United partnered with flight simulation corporation CAE, which has installed 40 flight training devices—both full motion and fixed-base simulators—since 2022. This brings the total number of CAE devices up to 86, with a split between 52 full flight simulators (FFSs) and 34 high-fidelity flight training devices (FTDs). Approximately 1,600 employees work at the training center, making it a significant part of the Denver base.
Leveraging this space, United will not only take care of its own training needs, but will also be able to continue to offer partners the ability to bring in crews for initial and recurrent training. At a flow-through of 860 pilots per day, however, a lot of those seats will be tagged by United’s current pilot employee count of 18,000 and projected growth in that number as the company continues to take delivery of new aircraft for the next couple of years. In spite of delays in the Boeing 737 Max 10 program, United has been adding 787-9s on the large end, and Airbus A321neos to replace the aging single-aisle Boeing 757s.
United’s history of training pilots in Denver harkens back to 1966, when the airline’s training center was first located at the now-closed Stapleton Airport. The company will expand further using land recently purchased on a site adjacent to the Denver International Airport in 2023. Groundbreaking on the Phase 2 expansion will take place in 2027, with the facility open for business around 2030.
