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Breeze Airways adds training academy, flight simulator to Utah headquarters

By Genelle Pugmire - | Mar 14, 2022

Courtesy Breeze Airways

This undated photo shows a flight training simulator at the new Breeze Training Academy in Salt Lake City.

Low-fare air carrier Breeze Airways is opening a new Breeze Training Academy in Salt Lake City to perform initial and recurrent training for its pilots, flight attendants and technical operations teams.

The company’s headquarters is located in Cottonwood Heights.

The center has offices, training classrooms and briefing rooms and, for pilot training, an Embraer 190 flight simulator. Breeze will add an Airbus A220 flight simulator this summer. The facility is large enough to house six full-motion flight simulators, four flight training devices, aircraft escape slides, door trainers and an aircraft cabin trainer. The facility can accommodate up to 200 pilots, flight attendants, technical operations teams and instructors daily, according to Gareth Edmonson-Jones, director of corporate communications for Breeze.

Separately, Breeze has partnered with ATP Flight School, to provide ATP graduates with a streamlined pathway to a first officer position with the airline. Amid a growing shortage of airline pilots, the Breeze Embark Program allows Breeze to recruit from ATP’s student and instructor population of 2,300 pilots while providing ATP graduates with more opportunities for career progression, according to a news release.

Under the partnership, eligible ATP instructors can interview with Breeze at 500 hours total time. Successful applicants receive a conditional job offer and mentoring from Breeze pilots while gaining flight experience. Upon reaching 1,500 hours of flight time, instructors transition to Breeze as Embraer 190 First Officers after completing the Airline Transport Pilot Certification Training Program with ATP, the news release said.

Courtesy Breeze Airways

Breeze Airways, based in Cottonwood Heights, is opening a new training academy in Salt Lake City.

“It’s really exciting to open our training academy less than a year after our first flight,” Neeleman stated in the release. “This facility is large enough to support an airline of 800 pilots and 1,200 flight attendants, so it will support many years of growth for us. And, as a tech hub, there’s no better place for the center than Salt Lake City, which is also home to our headquarters in Cottonwood Heights. Combined with our partnership with ATP, we are well-positioned for continued growth and network expansion.”

In December 2020, Neeleman, a graduate of Brigham Young University, partnered with Utah Valley University on a new flight attendant program housed in the Aviation Science College. Breeze is expected to hire qualified UVU students as flight attendants and will simultaneously provide them with a path to a college degree through the university.

According to the company, Breeze will more than double its fleet of planes this year, from 13 Embraer 190 and 195 aircraft to 30 aircraft, including 13 Airbus A220s and four additional Embraer E-jets. The airline has ordered 80 new Airbus A220-300 aircraft, with options for 40 more, which will be delivered one per month for the next six years.

This undated photo shows David Neeleman, president and CEO of Breeze Airways.

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