American Airlines is relocating flight training operations out of Phoenix, moving its operations wholly to training centres in Charlotte and Fort Worth, Texas, where the airline is based.
The closure of the Phoenix flight training centre and the relocations to North Carolina and Texas are expected to happen by the end of 2017.
The 30 Phoenix-based flight crew instructors and simulator engineers will be offered positions in either Charlotte or Fort Worth, explained American Airlines Capt. Kimball Stone in a letter to pilots. In total, 65 American positions in Phoenix are impacted by the closure of the flight training operations.
“Moving to two training centers will help remove duplications in training that currently exist and provide a more consistent training experience for pilots,” wrote Stone. “This will all be particularly important as pilots change fleets due to pilot retirements and fleet changes from retiring older aircraft and new deliveries.”
“A number of pilot training courses have already moved to CLT and GSW, including Captain’s Leadership, Basic Indoctrination and both B757 and A320 Qualification Ground Training. We have no plans to remove training from our CLT Flight Training Center. We have no plans to remove training from our CLT Flight Training Center,” he wrote.
