Fort Myers flight training firm buys school outside Atlanta

Paragon Flight Training, based at Page Field in Fort Myers, has acquired the assets of AirVentures in LaGrange. Georgia, outside Atlanta.

Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. 

The acquisition, according to a statement, follows the company’s 2023 entrance into the Georgia market when it began a partnership with LaGrange College to offer the college’s first program in aviation. 

“At Paragon Flight, our strategic expansion plans are guided by a solid cultural fit centered on a shared vision of excellence in flight training and locations rooted in growing regional markets - and AirVentures fits the bill on both counts,” Paragon Flight President Chris Schoensee says in the release. “It is an established and well-respected local flight training school in a burgeoning area of Georgia and the purchase is another milestone in our company’s 18-year history,” Schoensee said. 

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In May of this year, Paragon Flight announced its company-wide student enrollment was at an all-time high, and in September welcomed its first full-year class of students at LaGrange College pursuing a minor in aviation using Paragon Flight’s Professional Pilot Program. The program is specifically designed to allow students to pursue other majors while simultaneously preparing for an aeronautics career.

“Our entrance into Georgia with the LaGrange College partnership opened our eyes to the tremendous potential in this part of the state. With its proximity to Atlanta and the strong interest in commercial aviation careers continuing unabated, we are bullish on the opportunity to integrate AirVentures operations into Paragon Flight and significantly bolster our flight training capacity here,” Schoensee says. 

A second AirVentures location in Columbus, Georgia, was not part of the acquisition, the release states. The LaGrange location will begin operating under the Paragon Flight Training brand effective December 1. 

In addition to Fort Myers and now Georgia, Paragon Flight has a third location, in Punta Gorda, that opened in 2023 at the Punta Gorda PDG Air Center. It now has more than 34,000 square feet of training facilities.