If you plan on getting your associate degree in air transportation, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #61 in the country in terms of popularity. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 8 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Air Transportation Associate Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 686 associate degrees in air transportation to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Air Transportation School for Your Associate Degree
Your choice of air transportation for getting your associate degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To take this into account we consider a college's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a collection of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Early-Career Earnings
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their associate degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. That is, everyone wants their associate degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to air transportation students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - The number of air transportation students who choose to seek a associate degree at the school.
Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
Student Debt - How much debt air transportation students go into to obtain their associate degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized air transportation related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for air transportation students working on their associate degree.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Air Transportation Associate Degree Schools in the Southeast Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - Worldwide is one of the best schools in the United States for getting an associate degree in air transportation. Located in the city of Daytona Beach, Embry-Riddle Worldwide is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Associate students who receive their degree from the air transport program make an average of $66,957 in their early career salary.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - Daytona Beach is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting an associate degree in air transportation. Embry-Riddle Daytona Beach is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Daytona Beach.
Associate students who receive their degree from the air transport program make around $66,957 in the first couple years of working.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Your choice of air transportation for getting your associate degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
