A bachelor’s in aviation management is the standard entry credential for airport administration, airline station management, and air cargo operations. It appears under several titles – BS in Aviation Management, BS in Aviation Business Administration, BS in Aviation and Airway Management, or a management concentration inside a broader aviation degree. All of them teach the same thing: how to run the operation on the ground, under federal regulation.
It is worth being blunt about what the degree is not. It is not flight training. Completing it does not produce a private, commercial, or airline transport pilot certificate, and it does not reduce the flight-hour requirements the FAA sets. Those certificates come from FAA-approved flight schools operating under 14 CFR Part 61 or Part 141, at their own cost and on their own schedule. A handful of universities sell a professional flight track alongside the management major; if that is what you want, confirm it in writing, because the online version of this degree almost never includes it.
Quick answers
Can I get a bachelor’s degree in aviation management online?
Yes. In IPEDS 2024, 88 institutions reported bachelor’s-or-higher completions in aviation management and aviation and airway management CIP codes, and 84 of those institutions reported offering distance-education programs (IPEDS 2024). The coursework is analytical and document-driven, which transfers to an online format well.
Does this degree include flight training?
Almost never in an online program. Aviation management is the business and operations side of the industry. Pilot certificates come from FAA-approved flight schools under Part 61 or Part 141 and require ground instruction, logged flight hours, a medical certificate, written exams, and a practical test. If a school advertises both, ask for the flight training cost as a separate line item.
What is AABI accreditation, and do I need it?
The Aviation Accreditation Board International accredits aviation degree programs against industry-developed criteria. It is programmatic accreditation, it is voluntary, and many solid programs do not hold it. Some airport authorities and airlines recognize it; none of the occupations in this field require it for hiring. Institutional accreditation is still the first check.
How many credits is a bachelor’s degree?
Approximately 120 semester hours, typically four years full-time. General education and business fundamentals usually fill the first two years, with the aviation core – airport operations, safety management, air transportation regulation, aviation law – concentrated in the junior and senior years.
Do I need airport experience to be admitted?
No. Admission requirements are the standard university requirements. Experience matters after admission: airports and airlines promote from within, and ramp, gate, or operations-center work while you study is the most common route into a supervisory posting.
What do graduates earn?
It depends on the role, not the diploma. Airfield operations specialists had a median annual wage of $56,850 and aircraft cargo handling supervisors $58,170 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS). Transportation, storage, and distribution managers, the management tier many graduates reach later, had a median annual wage of $107,230 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS).
At a Glance
- Common degree titles: BS in Aviation Management, BS in Aviation Business Administration, BS in Aviation and Airway Management
- Typical duration: 4 years full-time
- Credits: Approximately 120 semester hours
- Core skills: Airport and airline operations, aviation safety management systems, federal regulation and compliance, air cargo logistics, aviation finance
- Accreditation: Institutional accreditation first; AABI is the optional programmatic accreditor
For a full map of this program area, start here: Aviation Management Program Guide
Schools to compare
How We Rank Schools
Every school list on this site is ordered by the BOC Score, computed from the most
recent school-level data published by the U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and IPEDS).
To qualify, a school must be currently operating and accredited by an agency recognized by the
U.S. Department of Education. Each eligible school is then scored on five measures, percentile-ranked
against schools at the same credential level:
BOCSCORE
- Graduation rate 30%
- Median earnings, 10 years after entry 25%
- Average net price (lower is better) 20%
- Retention rate 15%
- Fully online availability 10%
Schools without enough outcome data appear after ranked schools, without a score.
Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
Graduation rate
78%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$78,988
Avg net price
$13,760/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 87%
- Programs offered: 118
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
78%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$72,424
Avg net price
$14,600/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 92%
- Programs offered: 198
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
82%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$60,409
Avg net price
$17,339/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 94%
- Programs offered: 233
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
71%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$84,131
Avg net price
$40,287/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 83%
- Programs offered: 24
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
40%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$50,712
Avg net price
$13,803/yr
TuitionIn‑state$4,711
Out‑of‑state$5,263
Source:Accreditor: Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities · IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
66%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$84,131
Avg net price
$41,272/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 87%
- Programs offered: 31
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
30%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$43,533
Avg net price
$4,606/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
31%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$55,939
Avg net price
$9,337/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 61%
- Programs offered: 22
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
The main undergraduate pathways
Standalone aviation management major
The most direct route. The major credits go to airport operations, airline operations, aviation safety, air transportation regulation, aviation law, and aviation finance, with a business core underneath. This is the degree airports and airlines recognize by name. Verify the course list rather than the title: a program with four aviation courses bolted onto a general business degree teaches a different amount of the industry.
Aviation business administration
A variant that shifts weight toward finance, marketing, revenue management, and economics, with aviation as the applied setting. It suits students aiming at airline commercial roles, air service development, or fixed-base operator management rather than airfield operations. If you want the corporate side, compare this to a straight business administration degree and decide whether the industry specificity is worth narrowing the field.
Management concentration inside a broader aviation degree
Some schools offer one aviation degree with tracks: professional flight, maintenance management, and aviation management. The management track is the one described on this page. The advantage is proximity to students and faculty on the technical side. The thing to check is how many management courses the track actually requires once the shared aviation core is subtracted.
Pairing aviation management with a logistics or safety minor
If air cargo is the goal, add supply chain management coursework – logisticians had 16.7 percent projected growth from 2024 to 2034 (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-2034), the fastest in this group. If safety systems are the goal, an occupational safety sequence stacks well with aviation safety management coursework.
Typical coursework in a bachelor’s program
| Course Topic |
What You Learn |
| Introduction to Air Transportation |
Industry structure: airlines, cargo carriers, general aviation, airports, and the agencies that regulate them |
| Airport Operations |
Airfield inspection, movement-area control, ground handling, wildlife management, and airport certification requirements |
| Airline Operations |
Scheduling, crew and fleet planning, station management, and recovery from irregular operations |
| Aviation Safety Management Systems |
Hazard identification, risk assessment, safety assurance, and non-punitive reporting culture |
| Air Transportation Regulation |
Federal rules governing operating certificates, security, and hazardous materials |
| Aviation Law |
Liability, contracts, labor agreements, and international conventions |
| Airport Planning and Finance |
Master planning, capital projects, landing fees, terminal leases, and non-aeronautical revenue |
| Air Cargo and Logistics |
Freight movement, ground handling, customs documentation, and network planning |
| Human Resource and Operations Management |
Staffing an operation that runs every day of the year, in shifts, under a labor agreement |
| Capstone or internship |
An applied project or supervised industry placement |
Skills you may build
- Reading a federal regulation and turning it into an operating procedure someone can follow at three in the morning
- Running an airfield inspection routine and documenting discrepancies that survive an audit
- Building and defending a departmental budget in an organization funded by fees and leases
- Recovering a disrupted schedule when weather, a mechanical issue, or a staffing gap breaks it
- Investigating an incident and writing a report that identifies a system cause rather than a person to blame
- Coordinating across parties that do not report to you: air traffic control, tenants, ground handlers, and public agencies
Prerequisites and course sequencing
The aviation core usually sits behind general education and business fundamentals, and specialized courses often run once a year rather than every term. Before you enroll, confirm:
- Whether the aviation core courses are offered in every term online, or on an annual rotation
- Whether an internship is required, and how the school helps online students find one
- Whether a capstone requires a physical site visit or an employer sponsor
- Whether any course requires travel to campus for a simulation, lab, or exam
- Which math and statistics courses gate the finance and operations sequence
If you are moving faster than a standard four-year plan, compare accelerated aviation management programs.
Transfer credits and degree planning
Transfer credit can shorten this degree substantially, and it is one of the few fields where prior industry training sometimes counts. Rules vary by institution, so confirm:
- The maximum number of transfer credits accepted
- The minimum grade required for a course to transfer
- Whether credits apply to the aviation core or only to general electives
- Whether an FAA certificate you already hold – dispatcher, mechanic, or a pilot certificate – converts to credit, which some aviation schools award and most do not
- Whether military aviation experience converts to credit, and what documentation the school wants
- Residency requirements, meaning a minimum number of credits completed at the institution
See Affordable Online Aviation Management Degrees for more on managing total program cost.
Accreditation and program quality checks
Verify that the institution holds accreditation from a recognized institutional accreditor through the U.S. Department of Education database. That is the check that determines whether the degree is recognized at all.
Then look for AABI accreditation on the specific program. AABI is the programmatic accreditor for aviation degrees, and its criteria are developed with industry input. Treat it as a positive signal rather than a requirement: no airport or airline job in this field is legally gated on it.
Industry membership organizations for airport executives and aviation professionals offer certifications and professional development. Those are credentials you earn after you are working, not accreditation, and they do not evaluate degree programs. Institutional accreditation comes first, AABI second, industry certifications later.
Building industry access while you study
Because this field promotes from within, the transcript alone rarely moves you into a supervisory role. Practical habits that pay off:
- Take a ramp, gate, operations-center, or fixed-base operator job while you study, even part-time, and treat it as the applied half of the degree
- Complete an internship at an airport authority or airline station, and ask the school what it can arrange for online students
- Learn the specific regulations that govern your employer’s certificate, and be the person who can find the citation
- Join the professional associations for airport executives and operations personnel for the job boards and the local chapter meetings
- Track which supervisors at your airport hold degrees and which do not, so you know what the credential is actually buying locally
Bachelor’s vs a master’s in aviation management
A bachelor’s is the entry credential. It gets you screened for airport operations, station supervision, cargo coordination, and analyst roles, and it is the degree most job postings in this field name. A master’s in aviation management is an advancement credential for people already in the industry, aimed at airport director tracks, safety leadership, and corporate aviation roles. It is not a substitute for the operational experience those jobs also require.
Compare degree options:
Data verified: September 5, 2026.
Salary, employment, and tuition figures on this page are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025; Employment Projections 2024–2034) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (2023 cohort). The source agency and data year are cited inline with every statistic.
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