ATP Flight School, the largest provider of commercial pilot flight training services in the United States, has announced it will expand its training aircraft fleet with the addition of 61 new aircraft throughout 2025. The airplanes will join ATP’s current fleet of 614 light training aircraft that are already used to train new pilots, which already includes 133 factory-fresh aircraft delivered to the organization since 2023.
The new additions to the fleet will all be newly built aircraft and will include 54 single-engine, high-wing Cessna 172 Skyhawks (the most popular aircraft of any type ever produced, with over 45,000 built since 1955). Each will be equipped with full electronic Garmin G1000 NXi avionics. Additionally, there will be seven Piper Seminoles – a twin-engine trainer capable of longer flights and used primarily for multi-engine training. These will also feature Garmin G1000 cockpits and will join 103 others of the type already in service with ATP.
The deliveries of the new aircraft throughout 2025 are part of a larger outstanding order book that ATP has with two key suppliers of light aircraft – Cessna (part of Textron Aviation) and Piper Aircraft (owned since 2009 by the Government of Brunei). The deliveries will continue through to 2027, with around 40 new airplanes on average arriving each year with the provider.
The new deliveries are being seen as a marker for just how high the demand is for newly trained and qualified commercial pilots in the US. With airlines of every size and operating in every sector expanding, the demand for such pilots has never been higher, with training providers such as ATP rushing to keep up and satisfy this demand. In addition to the new aircraft, the company has said it will also be opening several new training centers located in Michigan and Georgia.
Across its US-wide operations, ATP conducts over 850 daily training flights and logs more than 581,000 flight hours annually. The company also operates almost 30 maintenance bases across the US that are tasked with keeping each fleet member safe and airworthy. The organization also has an ‘airline-style’ centralized operations center based in Jacksonville, Florida, from where its entire operation is managed and overseen.
“The safety and reliability of ATP’s operations exceed the national average for general aviation flight instruction by a factor of ten,” said Michael Arnold, Vice President of Marketing, ATP Flight School. “This commitment to our students and instructors is only made possible through an unmatched investment in aircraft and safety, allowing aspiring pilots to train with confidence on the most efficient path to a successful airline pilot career,” he added.
Deliveries of the new Cessna Skyhawks for 2025 are already underway, with the first of the new planes having been delivered to ATP in February 2025. Out of the company’s fleet of 614 current aircraft, 477 are equipped with Garmin instruments, which feature LCD screens rather that more conventional ‘clockwork’ flight instruments as seen in many older training aircraft.
The use of electronic flight instruments is thought to better prepare trainees for when they reach the right-hand seat of a commercial airliner for the first time, which will have similar panel layouts to the aircraft that they have trained on and become familiar with.
ATP’s website states that the company helps its trainees attain 13,100 pilot ratings annually. Apart from Cessna Skyhawks and Piper Seminoles, the organization also operates single-engine Piper Archers, a low-wing monoplane with slightly more range than the Skyhawk, allowing for more versatility in ATP’s single-engine training programs.
