Airline Transport Professionals
A Prospectus for Flight Training Loan Co-Borrowers
Introduction to ATP
ATP has been training professional pilots since 1984. Today ATP’s management consists of pilots who have flown for major airlines including American Airlines, FedEx, and previously TWA. ATP’s program development team includes active major and regional airline pilots who fly for ExpressJet (Continental Express), ASA (Delta Connection), AirTran and Jet Blue. ATP owns a fleet of 145 aircraft, including 89 multi-engine aircraft and one Citation Jet, and 45 simulators, 5 of which are CRJ-200 Regional Jet simulators. ATP has 20 training centers across the U.S., emphasizing multi-engine, cross-country, crew-concept experience. When it comes to resources, experience, and stability, ATP is unmatched by any other flight training academy.
Growing Demand for Regional Airline Pilots
The FAA projects the largest increase in passenger volume, on a percentage basis, to occur at regional airlines. The agency believes that the industry will add more than 1,300 jet aircraft with less than 70 seats during the next 12 years, an increase of more than 81%. (Source: http://www.dot.gov/affairs/apa1205.htm) Few industries demonstrate as quantifiable of a demand for new employees as the regional airline industry.
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Success of ATP Graduates
Over half of ATP’s students are career changers. Many successful lawyers, dentists, information technology, real estate, marketing and business professionals have changed careers to become commercial pilots. Traveling around the world, getting to know dozens of different cities, flying a jet at mach .80, and accomplishing a new mission with every flight induces a romance unattainable in other professions.
ATP has regional airline hiring alliances that allow us to get our graduates hired faster than those applicants coming to the airline “off the street” or from other flight schools. In the last 12 months, over 335 ATP graduates have been offered airline pilot jobs. Be sure to visit our real-time Airline Placements web page.
Pilots can expect to earn over $30,000 during their second year of employment with a regional airline, and during their fourth year of employment, pilots earn over $45,000. With the deferment options that lenders offer, the first loan payment will typically not be due until after employment with a regional airline. Keep in mind that the airline pilot workforce is unionized and pay determined by union-negotiated contracts and seniority. Despite the misleading and heavily publicized instability of some major airlines, job stability at the established regional airlines is excellent. Finally, professional pilots have FAA certificates and credentials that allow many other employment options in corporate aviation. For additional information on airline pilot pay and the regional airline industry, see www.AirlinePilotCentral.com or ATP’s www.PilotJobs.com.
Building Qualifications
As the demand for regional airline pilots grows, so too does the demand for flight instructors. Upon completing ATP’s Airline Career Pilot Program, many students build their flight time and experience as a paid flight instructor with ATP prior to their advancement to the airlines. An instructor tenure usually lasts about six months. ATP does not guarantee an instructor position to all graduates. ATP only hires the graduates who excelled in the program so that students don’t receive instruction from someone who was guaranteed a job. Those that ATP does not ask to instruct are consistently able to find other flight instructor jobs with other flight schools. There is tremendous demand for flight instructors graduating from ATP due to high multi-engine experience. Graduates from other schools can’t even meet multi-engine insurance requirements. Whether instructing at ATP or elsewhere, pay usually ranges from $2,000 to $3,000 per month during this short flight time building phase.
Financial Considerations
As a potential co-borrower, there are three important facts you should know about ATP’s payment structure:
- ATP receives payments incrementally throughout the program.
- ATP quotes a fixed price.
- Refunds are issued in 10 days or less.
ATP’s multi-disbursement payment structure allows us to determine a student’s ability to be successful in this career early in the program, prior to spending the entire amount of tuition. Unlike other flight training academies, ATP’s program is structured so that ATP is motivated to quickly discontinue those who are unlikely to excel at ATP’s pace. With a fixed-cost pricing structure, ATP does not benefit from having to provide more and more training at an hourly rate—a common tactic found elsewhere.
ATP’s complete Airline Training Program, which includes the Private Pilot Addition and Airline Career Pilot Program costs $66,490. Add $4,000 for checkride fees, which are paid directly to pilot examiners, and the total amount of tuition is $70,490. (If the student enters the program with the Private Pilot Certificate, then the total cost of tuition is $61,495.)
Loan Details
Students who apply with co-borrowers generally receive lower interest rates and can finance a larger portion of tuition costs. SallieMae, one of our largest lenders, requires co-borrowers on nearly 80% of the private student loans they originate. This program is available because of ATP students’ excellent track record of completing training and achieving success with an airline job. This is especially true in today's credit markets. Sallie Mae recently announced that it will lend $10 Billion in private student loans with over 80% having co-borrowers in the next 16 months. See this recent article.
Essentially, as a a co-borrower, you agree to pay the student’s loan payments if he or she for some reason does not. Usually a family member or friend will sponsor a student’s airline pilot career financing. Having a co-borrower qualifies the student for the following benefits:
- Higher loan amount. (Full tuition.)
- Lower interest rate. (Over the 20-year term of a typical loan, this will save about $7,500 in interest.)
- Establish a solid credit history for the student, viewed favorably when applying for credit of any type in the future.
Sometimes a second co-borrower will be required for approval of the full tuition amount.
Some lenders offer a co-borrower release option. After making a certain number of on-time payments, the borrower may request that the lender remove the co-borrower from the loan entirely as long as the borrower has sufficient credit individually. After achieving a regional airline pilot job, it may be possible to refinance the loan at a lower rate and without a co-borrower.
If a student discontinues training with ATP, the refund will be issued directly back to the lender, not the student. This minimizes interest expense and protects the co-borrower. A student may choose to discontinue the program at any time, for any reason.
Additional Benefits for the Co-Borrower
As a friend or relative of an airline employee, you can often take advantage of airline-employee friend/family benefits, including:
- Free and/or discounted airline travel, including First Class
- Vacation discounts
- Auto-rental discounts
- Hotel discounts
Next Step
The next step in helping your family member or friend achieve his or her career goals and fulfill his or her passion for flying is to obtain the following information required of both the student and co-borrower:
- Social Security Number
- Date of Birth
- Email Address
- Address
- How Long at Current Address
- Home Phone Number
- Residence Status (Own/Rent)
- Monthly Mortgage or Rent Payment
- Approximate Mortgage Balance
- Approximate Home Value
- Employer’s Name, Phone Number & Address
- Current Position/Title
- How Long Employed with Current Employer
- Documentable Gross Annual Income & Source
- Documentable Other Income Amount & Source
With this information, the student can apply on-line at www.ATPFlightSchool.com/apply and also invite you to complete your section of the application. You can choose whether or not to share your information with the student, and all of the information you submit will be kept confidential and will only be shared with third party lenders and or affiliates of ATP in order to find the best possible financing package for the student. Approval decisions can be obtained in as little as 24 hours, but can sometimes take up to a week depending on the volume of applications currently in process. Once an application is approved by one of our lenders, you will be contacted and some additional documentation will be requested in order to complete the loan transaction.
Conclusion
Airline pilot careers were once reserved for highly experienced military aviators or civilian pilots who spent years trying to achieve the high level of flight time that used to be required to find airline employment. Now is the best time ever for aspiring professional pilots to enter the industry. Upgrade times are shorter, pay is higher, and hiring minimums are lower than ever—especially through ATP’s hiring alliances.
Not only is the already strong demand for professional pilots continuing to grow, but ATP offers the best choice in flight training academies. Nowhere else will you find better aircraft, a more cost and time-efficient program, or a team of professionals more dedicated to training the best regional airline pilot applicants.
For Additional Information
Please contact:
James Krzeminski
Director of Admissions
Airline Transport Professionals (ATP)
800-ALL-ATPS / 800-255-2877
Web: http://www.ATPFlightSchool.com
Email: james@allatps.com
