United Airlines is officially unveiling its new flight attendant training center in Chantilly. This is the first facility of its kind in the DC area, and will train flight attendants servicing Dulles International, Reagan National, and Baltimore-Washington International airports.
The 20,000-square-foot facility opens Thursday, May 15, with its first class of students. It will provide instruction for up to 650 United flight attendants every month, giving them vital training in safety procedures and service training.
Construction on the $16 million United training facility, located close to the company’s Dulles hub, began last fall.
First-Class Equipment
Inside the facility, there are simulators of each of United’s six plane models. Attendants can practice key skills like CPR and evacuation. Plus, equipment rooms allow trainees to practice on emergency ramps, life vests, and fire extinguishers.
“Our flight attendants need to be trained and qualified for every aircraft … At any day, they could be flying [on] a Boeing 757, and then they can switch the next flight to an Airbus A319,” says Patrisha Caraballo, regional training manager for United.
In addition to the hands-on equipment rooms, there are four main classrooms. Each room fits about 32 students, and one-day training sessions last nine and a half hours.
New flight attendants will still need to travel to Houston to receive their initial flight attendant qualifications — it’s the only facility with the aquatic trainings the initial certification. But for the hands-on training they must complete every 18 months, they now have a facility much closer to home. Prior to this Chantilly facility, attendants had to travel to Chicago for those trainings.
The new facility will initially serve attendants from Dulles, Reagan, and Baltimore, with the potential to expand its capacity in the future.
United’s Regional Growth
This is part of a larger growth trend for United in the area. The airline operates nearly 280 daily flights out of Dulles to more than 100 destinations. That presence will continue to grow with the addition of a new 435,000-square-foot concourse that’s coming to Dulles in 2026.
“We are the largest airline in the DC region. We have more flights and destinations than any other one, but we’re growing,” says Lina Mizerek, manager of United’s corporate communications. “We’re continuing to add flights and more destinations, and with that, we’re going to have more planes. And more planes have more flight attendants. So as we continue to grow our flight attendant community, this just supports them here.”
Feature image by Michele Kettner
