Sep 14, 2026 · 29 min · 12 segments
In this episode of The Climb, we explore the challenges of scaling flight training without compromising quality. Joining us is Niklas Algotsson, head of training at OSM Aviation Academy, a leading…
Niklas AlgotssonGuestKasper WallgrenHost
Yeah, that's also something that's- It's tricky, but then again, you have the basis already.
You have the training structure, you have the training manual that they follow.
The thing that becomes important are, again, the people that you have around you.
You can't just bring in students from all across the world without sort of assessing them and expect that everyone is gonna go through the same pace.
You still have to keep the same sort of requirements for the students coming in.
As an example, I think from applying to education, for us, it's only about 30...
Some due to medical reasons and some due to the assessments, just to make sure that you're actually able to pass this kind of program.
If you give up the focus on, on assessing the students coming in and scaling up, then I think you're heading for trouble, uh, 'cause then you're gonna end up scaling without having the same kind of people going through the program.
And the same goes for instructors, and that's maybe where it gets really tricky for academies these days with airliners just grabbing instructors and grabbing students before becoming instructors.
And when we talk about having standardized instructors, sort of giving the quality and having the knowledge that we're used to giving to the students and sort of having that, the easiest way of doing that has always been recruiting the number one students.
They know the culture within the walls, and they can teach in the same way they were taught, basically.
That option is, 'cause the best students, they land the airline jobs so quickly these days, and that brings a lot more pression into, a lot more pressure into the internal training that we have of the instructors.
So both coming in, like the initial training that we do for the instructors, we've made sure that that's as dynamic as it can be now at the latest years, so we can model it more towards the instructor coming in.
And that's something we've been working a lot with to make sure that everyone comes to the level that we need to get the same quality out of the training program, even though we're scaling and needing more instructors, and especially in this climate.
But that's how it is, right? With flight schools, when we're gonna bloom and a lot of students are coming in and we're growing, that's because the aviation industry is blooming.
It's, I think it's very few times in history where flight schools have been blooming and having record amounts of students coming in while the aviation industry stands still, 'cause that's sort of when people get afraid of becoming a pilot.
Yeah, that's also something that's- It's tricky, but then again, you have the basis already.
You have the training structure, you have the training manual that they follow.
The thing that becomes important are, again, the people that you have around you.
You can't just bring in students from all across the world without sort of assessing them and expect that everyone is gonna go through the same pace.
You still have to keep the same sort of requirements for the students coming in.
As an example, I think from applying to education, for us, it's only about 30...
Some due to medical reasons and some due to the assessments, just to make sure that you're actually able to pass this kind of program.
If you give up the focus on, on assessing the students coming in and scaling up, then I think you're heading for trouble, uh, 'cause then you're gonna end up scaling without having the same kind of people going through the program.
And the same goes for instructors, and that's maybe where it gets really tricky for academies these days with airliners just grabbing instructors and grabbing students before becoming instructors.
And when we talk about having standardized instructors, sort of giving the quality and having the knowledge that we're used to giving to the students and sort of having that, the easiest way of doing that has always been recruiting the number one students.
They know the culture within the walls, and they can teach in the same way they were taught, basically.
That option is, 'cause the best students, they land the airline jobs so quickly these days, and that brings a lot more pression into, a lot more pressure into the internal training that we have of the instructors.
So both coming in, like the initial training that we do for the instructors, we've made sure that that's as dynamic as it can be now at the latest years, so we can model it more towards the instructor coming in.
And that's something we've been working a lot with to make sure that everyone comes to the level that we need to get the same quality out of the training program, even though we're scaling and needing more instructors, and especially in this climate.
But that's how it is, right? With flight schools, when we're gonna bloom and a lot of students are coming in and we're growing, that's because the aviation industry is blooming.
It's, I think it's very few times in history where flight schools have been blooming and having record amounts of students coming in while the aviation industry stands still, 'cause that's sort of when people get afraid of becoming a pilot.
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