Axiom Aviation’s Balanced Fleet

There are countless items an aspiring pilot will evaluate when they are selecting a flight school. Many of these criteria are clear-cut and transparent, such as price and fleet size. However, many of the most important criteria are often overlooked.

One of the most commonly overlooked aspects of a flight school is the availability of airplanes and instructors. In this article, we will examine Axiom Aviation’s student-to-instructor-to-plane ratio and its impact on flight training.

An Appropriate Balance

A flight school's fleet can make or break a student's flight training. When a school has a fleet that is too small to handle existing demand, students fly less often due to limited availability. When this happens, students' progression is hindered as they meet requirements at a slower pace, and knowledge and skill retention are reduced.  

On the other hand, flight schools with a sufficient number of airplanes are able to offer an enhanced flight training experience. Students who attend schools with an appropriately sized fleet can progress at an accelerated pace and have higher levels of knowledge and skill retention. When a school has a larger fleet with more slack in the flight schedule, a student's progression is disrupted less often due to maintenance delays.

The concept of having a sufficiently large fleet can also be applied to flight instructor (CFI) staffing. When there are enough instructors, students are able to fly as much as they would like while receiving sufficient attention from their CFI during flight and ground training. However, if there are not enough instructors, students will fly less than they would like and will typically receive less attention than they require throughout training.

Operational Ratios

Throughout Axiom’s history, procedures and operations have been continuously enhanced through experience. These operational improvements have enabled Axiom to have an ideal student to plane to instructor ratio.

This successful ratio starts with the instructor-student relationship. Axiom instructors decide how many students they take on. This ensures that instructors always have sufficient time for their students. If no instructors are able to take on additional students, students are added to a waitlist until a slot is open. If the waitlist persists long enough, Axiom hires additional instructors to meet demand.

By allowing instructors to choose the number of students they take, the student-to-plane ratio is largely self-regulated. However, Axiom has consistently grown throughout its history and, over time, has added several airplanes to its fleet. Meaning that whenever the schedule has become constricted, Axiom has acquired additional aircraft.

As of the time of this writing, Axiom has a fleet of 9 airplanes. The size of Axiom's fleet allows for a large amount of wiggle room on the schedule, as planes will periodically go down for maintenance. This wiggle room creates a training environment with minimal disruptions, enabling students to not only train at an accelerated pace, but stick to their anticipated pace better than they would at a school with a strained schedule. With fewer delays, Axiom students receive an optimal flight training experience.

Interested in starting flight school? Give us a call at (262)297-4568. Or email us at info@flyaxiom.com.