Envoy Cadet Program
The most efficient path to becoming an American Airlines pilot.
Launch your airline pilot career with the Envoy Cadet Program. Discover all the incredible benefits of this unique program and find out if it’s the right fit for you.
Thrust Flight and The Envoy Cadet Program
Thrust Flight has partnered with Envoy to give our students and instructors the opportunity to participate in their unique Cadet Program.
Envoy’s Cadet Program is designed to help the most promising flight school student pilots make a smooth transition from the classroom to the regional cockpit as a first officer and eventually a pilot for American Airlines.
While you can join the program as soon as you have your private pilot’s license, the bulk of the benefits come when you become a flight instructor.
Benefits of the Envoy Cadet Academy
The Envoy Cadet Program provides many benefits to its cadets. You’ll receive different benefits depending on your level within the cadet program. There are three different levels each with its own requirements (discussed below) and benefits.
- Level 1 – Cadet: Mentorships, internships, and promotional materials
- Level 2 – Senior Cadet: Mentorships, internships, and promotional materials. Start your transition to Cadet Instructor
- Level 3 – Cadet Instructor: Mentorship and promo materials, Employment Benefits, Travel Privileges
Employment benefits include travel privileges for you and your immediate family on American Airlines flights, 401(k) with matching contributions from Envoy, AA profit sharing, Paid vacation and sick time accrual, and health, vision, and dental coverage. You may also receive financial assistance from Envoy.
Additionally, once you reach ATP/R-ATP minimum flight experience requirements Envoy will pay for your ATP/CTP course. Hotel accommodations and ground transportation during that training will also be provided. Once you’ve completed your ATP/CTP and written you’ll be placed into the next available new hire class for Envoy.
While the Envoy cadet program is different than the American Airlines Cadet program, it ultimately gives you the same benefit of getting you to American Airlines quickly.
Requirements to Become an Envoy Cadet
There are several basic requirements to join the Envoy Cadet Program. Additionally, there are requirements for different levels within the Cadet Program.
General Requirements:
- Must be at least 18 years of age
- Current FAA First Class Medical
- IFR Currency
- FCC License
- Ability to work in the US
- Ability to travel into and out of the U.S. and to all cities/countries served by Envoy
At a minimum, envoy cadets must have their private pilot license and pass the Envoy HR interview to be in the program. Senior cadets have their commercial certificate with multiengine and instrument ratings and must also pass the airline’s technical interview.
The advantage of getting these interviews out of the way early is an immense relief to students, who can join the next available new hire class once they’ve reached ATP minimums and have passed the ATP/CTP course.
Envoy even pays for the ATP/CTP course as soon as cadets meet the minimum flight experience requirements. That includes hotel accommodations and ground transportation during the course.
Unlike other pathway programs, the Envoy Cadet Program integrates the airline interview with your training. Other programs may require an interview to get into the program, but they do nothing more than guarantee another interview for the first officer position. With Envoy, the interviews are done. Then, the only thing left to do is fly and continue learning.
Requirements for each Cadet Level:
- Level 1 – Cadet: Must be enrolled in a partner school and successfully complete an HR interview.
- Level 2 – Senior Cadet: Must have a commercial pilot certificate and successfully complete the entire interview process including both HR and technical.
- Level 3 – Cadet Instructor: Must pass the internal review board and sign a letter of commitment
How to Apply to the Envoy Cadet Program
The Envoy Cadet Program is the perfect fit for anyone who knows they want to fly for American Airlines. To learn more about this program fill out the form below and our flight training director will reach out to you.
About Envoy Air
Envoy Air isn’t a well-known airline name because the company operates under the American Eagle brand. But Envoy offers some of the best benefits for cadets in the industry, along with an attractive schedule of signing bonuses for all pilot positions.
If your goal is a career flying for the majors, working for Envoy means you’ll essentially be an American Airlines employee from your first flight as an instructor. You’ll have your interviews out of the way and can start accruing Envoy employee benefits while building time as a flight instructor. Here’s a closer look at this great pathway program and its top benefits.
Envoy is owned by American Airlines Group and is that airline’s largest regional carrier. They operate under the American Eagle brand name. In the past, the airline had been known as American Eagle Airlines, but the name was changed to avoid confusion with the other regional carriers operating under codesharing agreements as “American Eagle.”
Envoy operates a fleet of nearly 150 Embraer regional jets (ERJ145s, 170s, and 175s) to 170 destinations in North and South America and the Caribbean.
The company is headquartered in Irving, Texas, and employs more than 18,000 workers. They have major hubs and crew bases in Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Miami.
All pathway programs are set up to boost an airline’s recruitment efforts and ensure a steady stream of pilots at the company for years to come. To make the program successful, Envoy offers a few unique benefits to their cadets.
As already mentioned, the ability to have your airline interview process out of the way is unique among other programs. Where most airlines will guarantee that you will get an interview at the end of the program, you will have already passed that interview to be in the Envoy Cadet Program. So, in essence, you’re already hired!
To make it even better, as soon you start your time building at a partner flight school, Envoy extends employee benefits to you. That means you will have travel privileges for you and your immediate family anywhere American flies. You’ll also have access to the company’s health, dental, and vision insurance plans and 401(k) retirement plans with company matching. Finally, you’ll get profit sharing and be able to start accruing paid vacation and sick time, just like other Envoy employees.
The company also has an enticing bonus system. Participants are offered $15,000 for joining and completing the Cadet Program. This is in addition to the airline’s signing bonuses for first officer hires, upgrades, and flow-through. The Envoy program can total up to $180,000 in bonuses. You can view a complete breakdown of the bonus pay and “Quality of Life Perks” for being an Envoy pilot online.
Finally, it’s worth mentioning that, as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the American Airlines Group, Envoy employees are American employees.
The two companies operate separately but have a unique flow-through agreement that requires no further interviews for pilots transitioning to American from Envoy. As a result, envoy Air represents the single largest source of new pilots for American, making up over two-thirds of new hires since 2010.
These reasons sound great on paper, but Envoy is not giving these perks away for free. Envoy requires you to sign a Letter of Commitment in exchange for the cadet program’s benefits. Depending on your contract, you will be required to work as a CFI and then as a first office with Envoy for a set amount of time, or else you will have to pay back the bonuses and benefits. The length of time of the commitment depends on the perks you accept and the airline’s current offerings.
As a pilot building hours toward an airline job, this limits your choices in the future. The future is always unknown, and keeping as many doors open as possible is a good thing. Will Envoy or American still be hiring when it’s time for you to upgrade?
Or will another company come along with a better offer? We can’t predict the future, which makes committing to a program like Envoy’s a difficult decision. It isn’t right for everyone. But some pilots will be drawn to the idea of committing to a company from the beginning, and if so, Envoy might be right for you.