Professional airline pilots have been trained at the Oxford Aviation Academy (OAA) flight school since 1961.

The Oxford Aviation Academy includes the former Oxford Aviation Training, a commercial pilot training school based at London Oxford Airport in the United Kingdom; Falcon Field in Arizona, United States; the former SAS Flight Academy; the former GECAT and the former BAE Systems Woodford, United Kingdom Training Centre, all of which are majority owned by STAR Capital Partners of London with a minority stake of less than 20% retained by GE Commercial Aviation Services.

The Airline Pilot Programme First Officer course is a full-time, integrated Civil Aviation Authority / European Union Aviation Safety Agency (CAA/EASA) course leading to the award of a 'Frozen' (becoming unfrozen when the candidate has completed 1,500 hours in a multi-pilot environment) airline transport pilot licence (ATPL).

However, restrictions placed on civil aviation during the Second World War curtailed its activities, and the airfield operated as RAF Kidlington for the duration of hostilities.

[4] Dedicated ground school buildings and student residential accommodation were provided on site, and the first fully integrated Commercial Pilot's Licence (CPL) and instrument rating (IR) courses began in May 1962.