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The United Aviate Academy officially opened Thursday outside Phoenix, putting the school's first class of about 60 students on a streamlined path to a new career."I am very excited for it," student pilot Adela Gallegos told CNN. The 23-year-old studied business administration in college and had no previous flying experience up until last month. "Because I just started thinking of it in the last year �� this career has changed the way I've seen how my entire life is going to go."Related video above: These tips can help you deal with flight delays, cancellationsUnited says its in-house flight training operation is the first for any major airline in the United States. Consulting firm Oliver Wyman says airlines worldwide need an estimated 34,000 new pilots by 2025 to meet growing demand and keep up with retirements, and United CEO Scott Kirby said the traditional models are not adequately feeding the demand."The pilot shortage is real, but it's really real at the regional airlines," Kirby told CNN. "If it's a crisis, it's a crisis for small communities."Traditionally, airlines looked to the military to provide a steady stream of qualified candidates. Civilian pilots had to come to the table with thousands of flying hours cobbled together on their own �� the Federal Aviation Administration requires a minimum of 1,500 hours of piloting experience to earn an Airline Transport Pilot certificate."This is the model really about creating that economic opportunity to let people come in who don't have $100,000 to spend on their certification, but have great potential, great ability �� to let them get through the whole process of becoming a commercial airline pilot," Kirby said.United says its academy costs $71,250, with scholarships available. Delta Air Lines recently dropped its requirement that pilot applicants have a four-year college degree, too. While the industry average pay for pilots is more than $190,000, according to the Labor Department, entry-level pay is notoriously low and training costs are high, frequently exceeding the limits of federal student loans. A 2018 report by the Government Accountability Office found the cost to be one of the largest recruitment challenges for flight schools.Airlines that cut costs by asking veteran flight crews to take early retirement packages during the depths of the pandemic are now staffing up. American Airlines wants to hire 2,000 pilots this year. Delta anticipates adding between 100 and 200 pilots to its ranks each month this year. United expects to train 500 pilots through the Aviate Academy every year over the decade.The aggressive hiring puts pressure on the regional airlines, which operate smaller planes branded United Express, American Eagle and Delta Connection that also serve as career feeders to the mainline carriers.Faye Malarkey Black, president and CEO of the Regional Airline Association, said the shortage is a top priority for her members."This is a problem that's real, it's present, it's already affected air service and it's going to get worse if we don't intervene now and give people a real path into this career," she said.The problem, industry officials say, materializes in several ways. There are fewer pilots on standby when unexpected weather delays push a team into federal on-duty time limits. Several airlines canceled flights when crewmembers called out sick with the coronavirus. Those issues led airlines to cancel more than 18,800 flights around the Christmas and New Year's holidays.In some places, Black said, "small communities are losing air service" when airlines decide where to -- and not to -- fly."This is a real problem where the career path has effectively been reserved for the wealthy and if we want to fix the pilot shortage, if we want to bring more diversity to this population, we've got to fix that," she said.