Flight Center Expansion

Bowling Green State University Board of Trustees has celebrated the expansion of the BG Flight Center, which will address workforce needs and provide highly trained pilots for the airline industry. The $5 million investment more than doubles the center's flight operations, classroom and office space.

With nearly 400 students in the program, BGSU is home to the largest aviation program in the state of Ohio, one of the largest in the US, and one of the few academic programs with an airport on the land of its campus.

A key public-private partnership between BGSU and North Star Aviation, which owns and operates the BG Flight Center, committed more than $5 million to upgrade the facility, a continuation of a partnership with BGSU that has been mutually beneficial since first agreed upon in 2015.

The expansion will more than double flight operations, classroom and office space, and upgrades include 11,000 square feet of space, including bigger simulation rooms, modernization of its fleet, two new precision flight controls and the addition of an L3Harris CRJ900 jet simulator, which the program did not offer previously.

"The $5 million expansion certainly demonstrates our shared commitment to address a critical workforce need of today," BGSU President Rodney K. Rogers said. "It's what public universities need to be doing each and every day: addressing the global pilot shortage along with other professionals in the aviation industry."