For aspiring airline pilots like 24-year-old Ahkeel Leach, who spent his childhood traveling between his father’s home in New York and his mother’s in Britain, the industry’s challenge is a career opportunity. Though he had wanted to fly since he was a child, he did not know where to study or how to pay for it.

“My family, we’re all immigrants. Aviation is one of those things you stick in the corner,” he said. “It’s a great job, but not everybody knows there are affordable avenues or has guidance to get there.”

Programs that give students like Mr. Leach flying lessons, the means to pay for them and the promise of a job after graduation are new in the United States. Recently, American Airlines and JetBlue became the first United States-based carriers to offer what is called an “ab initio” training program. A Latin term for “from the beginning,” it means that airlines select people with an aptitude and personality for the cockpit and teach them everything else.

“Every day I’m so excited and happy to be here and happy for the fact that someone gave me a chance to achieve my dream,” Mr. Leach said from Mesa, Ariz., where he is enrolled at CAE’s American Airlines Cadet Academy. Large airlines like Japan Airlines and Scandinavian Airlines that used to train their own pilots are also now partnering with companies like CAE.

Mr. Leach recently received his private pilot’s license at the CAE training center, completing the first step on his way to flying for American. “Learning how to fly isn’t the hardest thing to do. I’m not doing surgery on people,” he said. “One of the hardest things is learning how to multitask and doing it at a high level.”