Auburn, Ala. -- Delta Airlines has selected Auburn University to be one of eight institutions included in their Delta Propel Pilot Career Path Program.
This program is designed in efforts to find and develop the next generation of pilots. Students from Auburn will be picked by the program and matched with a Delta pilot as a mentor. In addition, students will receive a Qualified Job Offer from Delta, which will outline their career path and an accelerated timeline to help them in becoming a Delta pilot.
“We are pleased and proud to be one of Delta’s initial partners in the Propel program,” said Joseph Aistrup, a dean in the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn. “Our students will have the distinct honor of being selected to participate in this program, which in turn will help to ensure that they have careers with a company that is a global leader in aviation.”
The program includes three main areas of focus: college, company and community. This approach is designed to help Delta be supportive of their future pilots and their current employees.
The Propel program is the first of its kind in the U.S., offering students three different career paths and an expedited timeline to work towards becoming a Delta employee, in 42 months or less.
This is Delta and Auburn's second partnership. Less than a year ago, in November 2017, Delta Air Lines, the Delta Air Lines Foundation and the Jacobson Family Foundation granted $6.2 million in support of several different Auburn programs.
The gift is going toward the construction of the Delta Air Lines Aviation Education Building, toward buying an aircraft simulator and toward the creation of endowed faculty professorships in the school's Department of Aviation. This gift is also intended to fund the university's Radio-Frequency Identification Lab.
Over the next decade, Delta has outlined plans to hire over 8,000 more employees to staff their thousands of daily flights around the world. As they work to help other pilots in their transition when reaching the mandatory pilot retirement age, the company is working toward recruiting new pilots through its partnership with eight colleges. The other institutions include: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University – Daytona Beach; Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University – Prescott; Middle Georgia State University; Middle Tennessee State University; Minnesota State University, Mankato; University of North Dakota; and Western Michigan University.
“Auburn students are consistently recruited because of their professionalism and the preparation they receive inside and outside the classroom,” said Auburn University President Steve Leath. “Delta’s continued support reflects the company’s confidence in an Auburn education.”
