Houston Airports is fully onboard with two major airlines recent focus on increasing diversity in aviation attracting, training, and equipping more men and women of color.  

United Airlines 

Houston Airports was pleased to be in attendance on March 9 when United Airlines announced a $100,000 partnership with Texas Southern University (TSU), providing students in the school’s aviation science and technology program with financial aid and mentoring as they pursue careers in the industry. Three student pilots and two aviation management students have been selected to receive scholarships from the funding, according to officials at Texas Southern. 

Jacorey Adams, currently an intern working out of the office of Houston Airports’ Chief Operating Officer Jim Szczesniak, is one of the students who is benefitting from the tremendous United Airlines investment. He attended the event, along with Rhonda Arnold, Houston Airports Chief Community Relations Officer and a TSU Aviation Advisory Board member. 

"It has been an amazing experience thus far,” Adams said. “I've learned key skills such as strategy approach, business communication, dealing with diversity, and dealing with deadlines. Overall, I view my internship as a transformative, cultural experience because of the value they bring to the organization, the importance of their roles, their relationships with the team, and how their work affects the overall business." 

The United-TSU partnership also includes ongoing mentorship activities between United employees and students in TSU’s Aviation Science and Technology program, including the Professional Pilot concentration. 

There is a projected nationwide shortage of 120,000 pilots over the next 20 years and this initiative provides a starting point. 

TSU launched its aviation science management program in 1986 and offers courses on aviation weather, law, history and safety, and air traffic control. Its pilot program began four years ago.  Texas Southern is one of nine Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the country and the only public four-year institution in Texas to have an aviation management system, a pilot program, and a flight school. (Texas A&M University-Central Texas in Killeen has an all-online professional pilot program.) 

In 2021, Texas Southern’s aviation science management program had 62 students enrolled, and the pilot program had 21 students, according to Terence Fontaine, director of TSU’s aviation program. In 2022, those numbers remain about the same. 

United Airlines, the only major U.S. airline to own a flight school, announced in April 2021 that it plans to train 5,000 pilots by 2030, of which at least half will be women and people of color. 

Southwest Airlines 

TSU and Southwest Airlines announced TSU as a university partner – and the first Historically Black College and University (HBCU) – in SWA’s First Officer recruitment program: Destination 225°. (On a compass, 225° is the southwest directional heading, and the carrier developed Destination 225° to lead aspiring pilots to Southwest Airlines.) 

TSU is the only school in Texas that offers a combined Bachelor of Science degree in Aviation Science Management and a Bachelor of Science degree as a Professional Pilot. 

“Working with Southwest Airlines and Destination 225° aligns with Texas Southern University’s mission of transformation – not only for our students, but for STEM-related industries such as aviation. This is great news for TSU Director of Aviation Dr. Terence Fontaine, the Aviation Science program and our students.” said Dr. Lesia Crumpton-Young, TSU President. “African American, Hispanic and Asian American pilots are significantly underrepresented in the U.S. This makes our degree program and our new partnership with Southwest a critical pathway for the next generation of minority pilots and aviation professionals.” 

“We’re honored to welcome Texas Southern University as the newest academic partner in our Destination 225° program as we focus on hiring, training and developing the next generation of world-class, professional aviators.,” said Lee Kinnebrew, Southwest’s Vice President of Flight Operations.  

“We recognize the importance of embracing diversity, equity and inclusion in all that we do, and we are confident this partnership and defined career pathway supports underrepresented and minority aspiring pilots in their efforts to join the Southwest family.” 

“Our job as educators is not complete until our students are either employed or seeking further education,” Fontaine said. “Today, our partners at Southwest Airlines delivered news that our students have a new place to land, literally. Being the first HBCU that Southwest Airlines is partnering with shows the depth of talent we have in our Professional Pilot students. I want to thank our university leadership for allowing our Aviation Program to grow to unforeseen heights. The best is still yet to come from Texas Southern University Aviation.”