Poland's Bartolini Air Marks 20th Anniversary with Over 2,000 Pilots Trained and 36-Aircraft Fleet

Polish flight training group Bartolini Air marked its 20th anniversary, reporting a fleet of 36 aircraft, a workforce of more than 100 personnel, and more than 2,000 pilots trained since its founding. The group conducts more than 22,000 flight operations annually and operates from four hangars at Łódź Airport, also occupying the airport's former passenger terminal for corporate and ground-school activities.

Flight training remains the group's core activity, with integrated and modular pathways covering ab-initio entry through frozen ATPL, APS MCC and advanced qualifications. Four aircraft in the current fleet are business jets used for executive charter operations under Bartolini Air Regional, which operates three Cessna Citation CJ1s and one CJ2. The group's standardised Tecnam training fleet expansion began in 2010 with the acquisition of a P2006T, and by 2023 Tecnam reported that Bartolini's P2006T fleet had accumulated approximately 26,000 flight hours. Fleet investment continued into the anniversary year, with five Tecnam P2008JC NG aircraft delivered in August 2026 and three additional units scheduled shortly afterwards, following earlier additions of P2006T NG and P-Mentor aircraft.

In July 2019, Ryanair selected Bartolini Air for a mentored pilot training partnership initially targeting more than 300 pilots. In April 2024 the relationship transitioned into the Ryanair Future Flyer Academy, with Ryanair announcing plans for more than 400 aspiring pilots to progress through the Polish pathway over four years. The pathway includes ab-initio and modular entry routes and a conditional Ryanair job offer for qualifying participants, with Boeing 737 type-rating training subject to the applicable training agreement. Ryanair currently lists Bartolini among its approved Gateway partners.

Beyond flight operations, the group has expanded into flight-simulator manufacturing, with a product portfolio that includes the BAS FBXP 0610 FNPT II, based on the Tecnam P2006T Mk II cockpit and incorporating a Garmin G1000 NXi environment, active force-feedback controls and a 220-degree visual system. The wider group also encompasses Bartolini Air Maintenance, which supports piston, turboprop and business aircraft, and Bartolini is an authorised Tecnam dealer in Poland and also represents Daher aircraft. The anniversary event in Łódź was attended by representatives from training and industry partners including Tecnam and Ryanair, with Airline Flight Academy Commercial Manager Kilian Hanratty describing Bartolini as a key partner.

Bartolini's trajectory illustrates how a regional flight school can scale by layering revenue streams around a training core: charter operations through its Citation CJ1/CJ2 pair, maintenance support across piston, turboprop and business aircraft, and now simulator manufacturing sold to other operators. That diversification reduces reliance on cadet volume alone and gives the group multiple points of contact with airline and OEM partners such as Ryanair and Tecnam.

The Ryanair relationship shows how airline cadet pipelines increasingly run through named academy partnerships rather than open recruitment, with defined pilot targets, conditional job offers and type-rating training tied to a specific training agreement. For an academy, being named an approved Gateway partner functions as a durable pipeline of demand that justifies fleet expansion, evidenced here by the P2008JC NG deliveries timed to the anniversary year.

What remains to be seen is how the additional Ryanair Future Flyer Academy cohorts progress against the four-year, 400-plus pilot target, and whether the newly delivered Tecnam aircraft are absorbed primarily by that pipeline or spread across Bartolini's broader modular and ab-initio intake.