How to Start a Flight School

Part 1 - How to start a Flight School business - Background

Flying a plane requires a significant amount of knowledge and skill, which must be learned. Flight school businesses teach individuals who are interested in flying the knowledge and skills they need to attain a private pilot license. Schools’ curriculums typically consist of both classroom instruction and flight time.

Our guide is in 3 parts:

• Part 1 - How to start a Flight School business - Background
• Part 2 - Our planner tool to see if this idea is the right fit for you
• Part 3 - Action plan to get started

What are the costs involved in opening a flight school?

The startup expenses associated with opening a flight school business are sizable. Major upfront costs include:

• Purchasing an office and classroom space

• Purchasing a hanger

• Purchasing airplanes

• Paying for liability and property insurance

A school will also have to buy fuel and pay instructors’ salaries, but these expenses can often be covered with students’ initial payments.

Altogether, the startup costs listed above easily reach six, and sometimes seven, figures. Most business owners must take out a loan to pay for all of these expenses.

Some business owners decide to minimize the capital (and, therefore, the size of the loan) they need by leasing office, classroom and hangar space, and airplanes. Leasing, however, doesn’t let a business build up equity in its assets.

What are some insider tips for jump starting a flight school business?

Choosing a good location is essential to a flight school business’ success. Most areas can’t support many flight schools, so the ideal location is usually an airport that doesn’t yet have a flight school. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) maintains a directory of flight schools that interested entrepreneurs can use to check for schools near them.

Starting out, it can be tempting to offer low prices in order to attract students. Giving students deals on flight lessons, or even individual flights, can devastate a flight school business, though. Even partnering with daily deal sites to provide discounts on “discovery flights” could cost a business $90 per flight. Business owners should have a firm grasp of their operating expenses and required margins, and they ought to set prices accordingly from day one.

Instead of lowering prices to attract students, flight schools can help potential students look for scholarships and grants that may reduce their out-of-pocket. The FAA has a directory of scholarships and grants that students might qualify for.

Another way to lower the entry cost for students without reducing per-hour rates is by offering training for a sport pilot license. A sport pilot license typically takes only 20 hours of training, which is about half of the training required to become a private pilot. Thus, the costs for students can be cut by about 50 percent while still covering the school’s ongoing expenses.

What are the ongoing expenses for a flight school?

The ongoing expenses for a flight school business, like the startup costs, are significant.

Maintenance costs are one of the largest ongoing expenses and can significantly decrease a flight school’s profits. To keep maintenance costs manageable, business owners should look for an airplane mechanic who will offer the school reduced rates in exchange for regular work.

Other significant ongoing expenses include lease or mortgage payments for a building and a hangar, fuel costs, insurance premiums and instructors’ wages.

Who is the target market?

A flight school business’ ideal customer is someone who has interest in flying and is wealthy. Learning to fly isn’t cheap. Usually, only individuals who have a decent amount of discretionary income are able to afford the coursework.

How does a flight school make money?

A flight school business makes money by charging students for training. Training typically consists of classroom instruction and one-on-one flight time with an instructor. Students who need additional training beyond the typical coursework may be charged on an hourly basis for one-on-one lessons with an instructor.

How much can you charge customers?

Training for a private pilot license costs most students between $8,000 and $12,000. These figures include exam and materials (e.g. flight computer, log book and navigation plotter) costs, but these are relatively small expenses. The vast majority of these sums goes to the flight school business and instructor that provides training.

Training costs are sometimes broken down into hourly rates for the instructor and for using a plane. For example, a student might pay $40 per hour for an instructor’s time, and $120 per hour for use of a training plane. (These are just example amounts; hourly rates vary).

How much profit can a flight school make?

Because flight school businesses have sizable ongoing costs, their profit margins aren’t too high. A well-run flight school in an area with many potential students, however, can earn a respectable profit and pay employees’ salaries — including the business owner’s salary, if they’re involved in the day-to-day operations of the business.

How can you make your business more profitable?

A flight school business might increase its revenue by offering charter flights and flight tours. If a school owns a hangar, it can also rent hangar space to private airplane owners. Some schools also let graduated students rent planes by the hour or day.

Day-to-Day and Growth

What happens during a typical day at a flight school?

Starting out, a flight school business owner may double as an instructor. Successful business owners, however, spend more of their time running and growing their business than teaching individual students.

A flight school business owner’s daily activities can vary a lot from one day to the next. On any given day, they might:

• Have to address a maintenance or repair issue with a plane

• Manage and schedule instructors

• Promote classes to prospective students

• Bill and collect payment from current students

• Ensure students are satisfied with their training

• Schedule exams and relay scores to students

What are some skills and experiences that will help you build a successful flight school?

Flight school business owners who don’t have previous experience as a pilot may want to get a private pilot license so they have first-hand knowledge of the service their business is offering. Flying isn’t the only aspect of the business that owners should be familiar with.

Business owners will have to make a number of significant decisions, such as what planes to acquire, which instructors to hire and when to schedule classes. Working at another flight school, even if just as an administrative assistant, for several months will give a business owner some experience to draw on when making these decisions.

Business owners may have trouble getting a position at a nearby flight school, as their school could be competition for the nearby school. A flight school in a different region, however, may be willing to hire someone who’s hoping to enter the industry — as long as their school will draw students from a different area.

What is the growth potential for a flight school?

A flight school business can be a single, independent school or a national chain. Two national franchise organizations are ATP Flight School, which has forty locations throughout the United States, and American Flyers, which has six locations.

How and when to build a team

A flight school business needs multiple instructors from the outset, in order to cover all of the costs associated with running the business. Just one or two instructors usually can’t teach enough students to cover all ongoing expenses and earn a decent profit.

Most certified flight instructors make between $25 and $50 per hour, receiving less than 50 percent of the billable costs paid by students. They may work as employees of the business or independent contractors.

Part 2 - Is a Flight School business the right fit for you?

Part 3 - Action plan to launch your Flight School business in 90 days