United expands Denver pilot training center with 40 new CAE simulators

United Airlines has completed the first phase of an expansion at its Denver Flight Training Center, according to the airline, adding 40 new CAE simulators and training devices. The facility now has 52 full-motion simulators and 34 fixed training devices.

The 22-acre campus sits in Denver's Central Park neighborhood and spans nearly 700,000 square feet across eight buildings. United said the site can handle up to 860 pilots a day and run more than 32,000 training sessions a year. It operates nearly continuously, closing for only a few days annually.

The center is United's sole pilot training facility. It supports close to 18,000 active pilots, along with newly hired flight crews who return periodically for recurrent training roughly every nine months.

CAE President and CEO Matthew Bromberg said the expansion builds on a partnership between the two companies spanning more than four decades.

United opened a new 150,000-square-foot building on the campus in 2024 as part of this broader expansion effort, which began in 2022 and has added over 300 jobs at the site. The airline said it has put more than $145 million into that specific building, and $370 million into the campus overall since 2016.

About 1,600 of United's more than 11,400 Denver-based employees now work at the training center, according to the airline, in roles spanning flight instruction, evaluation, scheduling, pilot hiring and flight standards. The original training center dates back to construction between 1966 and 1968.