Compass Airlines and ATP Flight School finalize an agreement to pay up to $11,000 in training costs

Compass Airlines (Minneapolis/St. Paul) has finalized an agreement with ATP Flight School that paves the way for its participation in ATP’s Tuition Reimbursement Program. This program allows ATP graduate flight instructors to have up to $11,000 of their ATP training costs paid for by Compass, in exchange for agreeing to fly for Compass after earning the requisite number of hours.

“We recognize that the path to becoming a commercial airline pilot can be expensive,” said Jacob Rosholt, Chief Operating Officer at Compass Airlines. “The ATP Tuition Reimbursement program is a terrific opportunity to ease the financial burden faced by aspiring pilots, while simultaneously giving Compass immediate access to some of the nation’s top aviation talent.”

“Tuition reimbursement helps address the long-term need to attract new pilots into the airline career. Compass is helping innovate a real, sustainable solution to the pilot shortage by participating in this program,” said Justin Dennis, Vice President at ATP.

Compass is now hiring 40 pilots per month, and currently offers an upgrade time in less than one year, provided Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) and General Operations Manual (GOM) requirements are met.

Compass Airlines serves over 4 million passengers annually, averaging over 180 daily departures to destinations in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Compass operates a fleet of Embraer 170/175 aircraft on behalf of American Airlines (as American Eagle) and Delta Air Lines (as Delta Connection), and is in the midst of major growth, adding 20 Embraer 175 aircraft to its fleet in 2015. Compass has crew bases in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Los Angeles and Seattle/Tacoma.