AELO Strengthens Operations and Student Support as Academy Continues to Scale

Switzerland - Since January 2026, AELO has phased in 10 additional aircraft, including two P2008s, three DA20s, four DA40s and one DA42, bringing its training fleet to 34 aircraft. Additional qualified VFR and IFR flight instructors have also been recruited to support the increased capacity. These investments form part of a broader expansion programme that has included more than Euro 5 million invested in facilities and infrastructure.

The impact is already reflected in AELO's flight activity. During the first seven months of 2026, the Academy recorded 8,421 commercial flight hours, an increase of almost 50% compared with the same period in 2025. July alone reached 1,573 flight hours, almost 90% more than July 2025.

With this level of growth, AELO is also strengthening the organisation behind the training. Planning, operational coordination, communication and student support have become key areas of focus as the Academy works to ensure that its organisational capabilities develop alongside its aircraft and instructor capacity.

Listening to students as AELO grows

As part of this process, AELO commissioned Avioneer, a UK-based marketing and business development firm, to conduct a student satisfaction review combining structured survey responses with in-depth interviews with students at different stages of their training. The review provided valuable insight into both AELO's existing strengths and opportunities to further enhance the student experience. Students rated fundamental elements of the AELO training proposition highly, particularly the quality of flight training, flight instructors, aircraft, facilities and location. The research also highlighted the importance students place on clear communication, greater visibility of their individual training progression and more predictable planning.

Professional flight training is inherently influenced by variables including weather, aircraft maintenance, instructor availability and fleet utilisation. The findings showed that students value understanding how these variables may affect their individual training and having greater visibility of what comes next.

"Growing the fleet and adding instructors is only part of the solution," said Stefano Buratti, Founder and CEO of AELO Swiss Academy. "We also need the planning and support structure around them to keep pace with the growth of the Academy."

Strengthening the organisation behind the training

AELO has therefore consolidated its planning function around a dedicated team of three planners, coordinated by Operations Manager Margot Bartelds. Bartelds oversees the planning function while strengthening coordination between operations and the student body, with the objective of improving information flow, training visibility and short- and medium-term planning.

The Academy has also expanded its Student Support team to three dedicated professionals, providing students with clear points of contact for their day-to-day non-training requirements and helping ensure relevant information is communicated consistently.

Together, these investments are creating a more integrated structure connecting aircraft and instructor capacity with planning, operations, communication and student support. The objective is straightforward: better coordination, clearer communication and greater visibility for students throughout their training.

Turning feedback into continuous improvement

For AELO, the student satisfaction review forms part of a broader commitment to continuous improvement as the Academy grows. The combination of strong ratings for AELO's core training product and constructive feedback on the wider student journey provides management with valuable information on where future organisational investment can have the greatest impact.

"Student feedback gives us another important tool for understanding where we are performing strongly and where we can continue improving," Buratti added. "Our objective is not simply to increase training capacity, but to ensure that the organisation supporting that training develops with it."

AELO will continue to use student feedback alongside operational data to evaluate its development, identify opportunities for improvement and guide future investment.

As the Academy continues to scale, its focus remains on building the aircraft capacity, instructional resources, infrastructure, management systems and student support structure required to deliver high-quality professional pilot training.

About AELO Swiss Academy
AELO Swiss Academy is a Swiss Approved Training Organisation based in Locarno, Switzerland, specialising in professional airline pilot training. The Academy provides integrated pilot training through theoretical instruction, simulator training and practical flight training, supported by a fleet of 34 aircraft and dedicated instructional, operational, planning and student support teams. AELO continues to invest in training capacity, infrastructure, organisational development and airline-oriented career preparation as it expands its role within the European professional pilot training market.

Source: AELO Swiss Academy