BS in Aviation Management

What is an Aviation Management Degree?

The aviation management degree provides a comprehensive background in aviation studies, management, and business to prepare students for careers such as airline operation, air transportation, airport management, airport consulting, aircraft manufacturing, sales, and aviation insurance.

This degree is available as either a flight or non-flight major. Whether you want to be an airline manager, airport manager, or air commerce expert, an aviation management degree from Florida Tech develops a strong background in aviation with experience in modern aviation technology and best business practices.

Specialize in Air Traffic Control

In addition to the option of flight training, the aviation management degree program offers another option to graduate with a specialization in Air Traffic Control (ATC). The ATC specialization meets the requirements of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Air Traffic-Collegiate Training Initiative (AT-CTI) program and is FAA-approved. Graduates of the program are often eligible to bypass the Air Traffic Basics Course at the FAA Academy. The program gives you 21 credit hours of focused coursework in areas such as aerodynamics, meteorology, and safety.

Learn from Aviation Experts

Florida Tech’s faculty members are highly experienced experts in all aspects of aviation; many are experienced pilots. Our aviation management university boasts faculty who are experts in at least one other area such as aviation law, safety, avionics, or environmental science. Our experts also include airport consulting, design, and management; airline or general aviation management; and aviation human factors, meteorology, and air traffic control.

Florida Tech’s College of Aeronautics professors boasts comprehensive backgrounds in aviation studies, management, and business. Their experience translates to a robust curriculum and hands-on opportunities applicable to careers in air transportation, air commerce, airport planning, airport management, aircraft sales, and aviation insurance.

Accreditation

Aviation Management and Aviation Management—Flight majors are both accredited by the Aviation Accreditation Board International. Additionally, Florida Tech has been designated as a core team university for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Center of Excellence (COE) for General Aviation. The center focuses its research and testing efforts on safety, accessibility, and sustainability to enhance the future of general aviation.

Located in the Heart of Florida’s High-Tech Corridor

Florida Tech is the perfect place for a BS in Aviation Management. The 130-acre campus is located on the Space Coast (so named because of the presence of NASA and the Kennedy Space Center on Cape Canaveral just north of us), minutes away from the Indian River Lagoon, the most diverse estuary in North America. Plus, if you like to fly, we have over 300 days of ideal flying weather each year. Aviation majors especially appreciate that Melbourne is home to an international commercial airport that is just a ten-minute drive from campus.

The area has the fifth-largest high-tech workforce in the country, with more than 5,000 high-tech corporations and government and military organizations located nearby. This workforce also provides an abundance of internship and employment opportunities.

Florida Tech is just over the causeway from the Atlantic Ocean with its 72 miles of beautiful beaches, and a short trip to the Florida Keys or the Orlando theme parks. We also have a rich campus life that includes a wide range of intramural and collegiate sports, clubs, and social activities.

Build Lasting Professional Relationships through Campus Organizations

Beyond the classroom, aviation management degree students build leadership and professional experience through exciting internships and participation in academic organizations like Collegiate Aviation Business Executives, a student chapter of the American Association of Airport Executives, the Falcons Intercollegiate Flight Team, Women in Aviation, student government, and over 100 other campus-wide student organizations.

The Falcons Precision Flight Team student organization takes part in both ground and flight competitions regionally and nationally. The team participates in highly competitive events and holds numerous gatherings on campus to promote aviation safety.

Women in Aviation, an organization made up of both women and men, is dedicated to the advancement of women in aeronautics. WIA takes part in networking activities and lectures to help promote women in all fields and help them obtain aviation management internships and career opportunities.

Aviation Accreditation Board International (AABI) Accredited

Florida Tech's Aviation Management and Aviation Management - Flight programs are accredited by the Aviation Accreditation Board International (AABI) until 2022.

Peerless Study and Internship Opportunities

Internship opportunities abound, with Florida Tech aviation management degree students completing internships with virtually every major US airline and hundreds of airports and consulting companies. These aviation management internships provide students with valuable experience with airlines such as:

• American Airlines
• JetBlue Airlines
• Southwest Airlines

Aviation management internships at airlines like these are an excellent way to not only gain real-world experience within all aspects of an airline but to establish contacts with the professionals who may be interested in hiring you after college.

Advanced Simulations and Specialized Programs

Many aviation students take part in various advanced simulations during their time at Florida Tech. Among these advanced simulations is a semester-long exercise in running a simulated airport. Aviation management courses include computer labs for airport design and planning and the aforementioned BAT-D lab where students can fly desktop simulators.

It All Started With 37 Cents

Florida Tech was founded in 1958 as "Brevard Engineering College." It all started as an idea in the mind of Jerome P. Keuper, a visionary physicist working at Cape Canaveral.

As university lore would have it, Keuper expressed his desire to create a scientific and technological university to a friend over drinks at a local pub. Overhearing the conversation, a fellow patron pushed 37 cents in change across the bar and said, “There’s your first donation, Jerry. Now, go and build that college.”

So, Keuper did. And what started with 37 cents as a night school for the early “missilemen” of the U.S. space program is now a comprehensive national research university recognized worldwide for excellence in preparing students for careers of the future.

Core Values

• Research for the Benefit of All Humankind
• Education for a Lifetime of Success
• Global Citizenship for a Better World

Mission Statement

Florida Institute of Technology’s mission is to provide high-quality education to a culturally diverse student body in order to prepare students for entering the global workforce, seeking higher-education opportunities, and serving within their communities. The university also seeks to expand knowledge through basic and applied research and to serve the diverse economic, cultural, and societal needs of our local, state, national and international constituencies.

In support of this mission, we are committed to:

• Promoting student development by fostering and sustaining a productive institutional culture of assessment that leads to the continuous improvement of academic and administrative programs
• Developing an organizational culture that values and encourages intellectual curiosity, a sense of belonging and shared purpose among faculty, students, and staff, and the pursuit of excellence in all endeavors
• Recruiting and developing excellent faculty to become leaders in their respective fields and internationally recognized scholars
• Achieving recognition as an effective, innovative, technology-focused educational and research institution
• Recruiting and retaining an excellent, highly select, and culturally diverse student body
• Continually improving the quality of campus life for all members of the university community
• Providing personal and career growth opportunities for both traditional and nontraditional students and members of the faculty and staff
• Securing and maintaining professional accreditation for all appropriate programs

We Are Florida Tech

What we are is a private, coeducational, residential, research-intensive, doctoral-granting university located in Melbourne on Florida’s sunny “Space Coast.” But who we are is so much more. We are a community of researchers, scholars, and learners hailing from all around the world. We are engineers, aviators, innovators, leaders, educators, athletes, and astronauts. We have the brains of rocket scientists and the hearts of Panthers. We are Florida Tech.

We Are Relentless

Florida Tech is a university of leaders and learners—a diverse community of students, staff, faculty, and alumni who are united in the relentless pursuit of greatness.

We Are International

Students from more than 90 countries worldwide choose to live and learn at Florida Tech, making us a truly global university. When we say #YouAreWelcomeHere, we mean it.

We Create The Future

One of the primary tenets of Florida Tech’s mission is advancing science and technology for the benefit of Earth and all of its inhabitants. So, that’s what we do.

We Have Panther Pride

You may feel it the first time you visit the campus, the day you graduate, or at some point in between. But when you do, you’ll see that Panther Pride is more than school spirit. It’s a family.

We Make Connections

Florida Tech is proud to be part of the Brevard County community and welcomes its neighbors to explore the many personal, professional, corporate, and cultural opportunities we have to offer.

We Are STEM

There's a reason Florida Tech is known as Florida's STEM University™. To put it simply: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math are in our DNA. This makes STEM a driving force behind who we are, what we do, and why we exist.