SALT LAKE CITY — Delta Air Lines unveiled its new pilot training facility in Salt Lake City, the company's first outside its headquarters in Atlanta.
Salt Lake City has a long history with Delta as a hub for the airline, but the $50 million facility is different.
It's the home of Airbus A320 and A350 simulators, with a Boeing 737 simulator scheduled to be added in the spring. But there is room in the 50,000-square-foot facility for six more simulators in the future.
"It's just amazing to have this facility here. It just shows their commitment to Salt Lake," said Captain Brian Rees.
Rees has been with Delta for 17 years, but aviation’s been in his blood since before he can remember.
"My father was a pilot. It's just something that was always there," he said.
Now, instead of going all the way to Atlanta for recurrent training, Rees and pilots from across the region can now make a shorter trip to northern Utah.
Delta pilots based in Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Minneapolis will train in the Utah simulators. In all, Delta expects 350 pilots per month to train at the new facility, bringing in $100,000 a month to local hotels.
Before pilots can step into the cockpit of an A350, though, they start in something a little smaller. Scott Olsen is the director of flight training for Cornerstone Aviation, a Salt Lake City-based flight school.
"You know, I could go to school to learn to work, or I could play by flying airplanes all the time, so I chose flying airplanes!" Olsen joked.
As pilot hiring looks to soar due to an increasing number of current pilots reaching the mandatory retirement age of 65, Olsen says the last few years are the busiest they’ve ever had.
"With the industry changing, with how many pilots are needed and how the pilot pay has increased so much, we probably saw more interest in flight training in 2024 than we've ever seen," he said. "Whether you want to go fly cargo or get on with the airlines, it's a great time to be a pilot."
As brand new pilots work toward their first solo, they can see their goal just across the airport as Delta’s pilot training facility ramps up, bringing that next generation of airline pilots up into the flight levels.
