AeroGuard to Acquire 90 Archers from Piper Aircraft

The deal will nearly double the pilot training company’s aircraft fleet to more than 200.

AeroGuard Piper Archer

AeroGuard’s order of new Piper Archers will almost double the size of the company’s fleet. [Courtesy: Piper Aircraft]

Piper Aircraft and AeroGuard Flight Training Center announced an agreement under which AeroGuard has placed an order for 90 new PA-28 Archer TXs. The addition of the Piper trainers will nearly double the size of AeroGuard’s fleet to more than 200 aircraft.

AeroGuard has three campuses in the U.S. and one in Saudi Arabia. Together they train more than 2,000 student pilots for careers with airlines such as Cathay Pacific and SkyWest. AeroGuard also has a number of other airline and university partners across the Middle East, India, and the rest of Asia.

“We are thrilled to sign this agreement with Piper Aircraft to bring 90 new Piper Archers to AeroGuard’s fleet,” said Joel Davidson, CEO of AeroGuard. “This investment represents our commitment to providing our airline partners’ student pilots with every resource they need to succeed while experiencing the highest quality flight training in the world. With these additional aircraft, AeroGuard has the capacity to welcome hundreds of new airline cadets to our pilot training programs.”

In addition to the recent order, AeroGuard said it plans to add 25 airplanes to its fast-growing fleet by the end of this year. The company also recently increased the capacity of its Phoenix campus by 30 percent with the addition of a new building.

“It is an honor to expand our fleet partnership with well-known Piper Flight School Alliance member AeroGuard,” said John Calcagno, president and CEO of Piper Aircraft. “We pride ourselves in the relationships we build with schools such as AeroGuard and on the training aircraft we provide them, known for their reliability and ease of use, to train the next generation of pilots.”

AeroGuard said it offers jobs as flight instructors to its U.S. student pilots when they graduate from the school’s training program. This group of more than 600 U.S. graduates helps to form an instructional staff capable of training hundreds of students.

With its expanding fleet and pipeline of instructors, AeroGuard said it is “well positioned to become the leading flight training academy in the world.”

Jonathan Welsh is a private pilot who worked as a reporter, editor and columnist with the Wall Street Journal for 21 years, mostly covering the auto industry. His passion for aviation began in childhood with balsa-wood gliders his aunt would buy for him at the corner store. Follow Jonathan on Twitter @JonathanWelsh4

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