EIGHTY-SIX DEVICES, RUNNING ALMOST CONTINUOUSLY

United and CAE have marked the completion of the first phase of expansion at United’s Flight Training Center in Denver, having added 40 CAE devices (a combination of full-motion and fixed simulators) since 2022. The facility now comprises eight buildings across nearly 700,000 square feet on a 22-acre site in the Central Park neighbourhood, housing 52 full-motion flight simulators and 34 fixed training devices.

The operating figures are the more instructive measure. The centre can conduct more than 32,000 training events annually and train up to 860 pilots a day, and it operates 24 hours a day for 362 days a year. A full-motion simulator is among the most capital-intensive assets in an airline’s ground estate, and utilisation is the metric that determines whether it earns its cost – which is why a facility of this scale runs almost continuously rather than to an office schedule. It is the sole training facility for United’s nearly 18,000 active pilots and all newly hired pilots, each of whom completes simulator training during initial qualification and every nine months thereafter to maintain certification.

Scott Kirby, United’s Chief Executive Officer, said United pilots were the best aviators in the world and the pace at which the team completed the project exemplified investments supporting the airline’s standard of excellence. Matthew Bromberg, President and Chief Executive of CAE, said the expansion reflected a partnership built over more than four decades, and that CAE was proud to support United with the training technology, expertise and reliability needed to prepare pilots at scale.

PHASE TWO, AND WHY IT IS GOING SOMEWHERE ELSE

In July 2026 Denver City Council approved United’s rezoning request for two parcels of undeveloped land the airline purchased in 2023 near Denver International Airport. Formal site building plans have begun, with groundbreaking anticipated in 2027 and the facility expected to be operational around 2030. The airline will run the additional centre alongside the existing one rather than replacing it.

The decision to build a second site rather than extend the first reflects the constraint the Central Park location now faces. The existing campus occupies 22 acres in an established residential neighbourhood, it was originally constructed between 1966 and 1968 as part of the Stapleton Airport complex, and the surrounding area has been redeveloped around it in the decades since the airport closed. There is no straightforward path to further expansion on the site, which is why the next phase moves to land near the current airport.

THE ECONOMICS OF A TRAINING HUB

United has invested $370 million in the Flight Training Center since 2016, including more than $145 million in the building that opened in 2024, which generated over 300 new jobs. More than 1,600 of the airline’s 11,400-plus Denver-based employees work at the centre across 24 departments, spanning flight instruction, evaluation, scheduling, pilot hiring, human resources and flight standards.

One figure illustrates the wider local effect particularly clearly. In 2025 nearly $40 million was spent on hotel room nights in Denver for pilots visiting the training facility, with an expected spend of nearly $50 million in 2026. A recurrent training requirement every nine months for 18,000 pilots produces a continuous flow of visiting crew into a single city, an economic effect that belongs to the training centre rather than to the hub operation, and one that few airport cities capture.

United has hired more than 9,500 pilots since announcing its United Next growth strategy in 2021, including 700 so far in 2026 with plans for hundreds more. Its recruitment routes include direct First Officer hiring, the Aviate career development programme, the wholly owned United Aviate Academy flight school in Goodyear, Arizona, and the United Military Pilot Program launched in September 2023, through which nearly 600 military pilots have transitioned since 2024 with 500 more expected by the end of 2027. Of the airline’s nearly 18,000 pilots, 4,500 are veterans. Separately, United has directed nearly $1 billion into Denver International Airport since 2021 covering new gates, United Club locations and a new check-in lobby, and operates an airport-leading average of 570 daily departures there this summer.