Julie Rushton - the Chief Executive of AR&TC and a former Chief Stewardess- explains that the impetus for the establishment of the company grew from seeing "a poor standard of interviewees at the airlines we worked for. We decided that simple techniques to prepare candidates for their airline interviews would help airlines get a better standard of applicant". The aim of the company is threefold: to provide students with a thorough introduction to the air cabin crew/airline customer service agents role; to equip students with the airline interview techniques required for successful job applications; and to provide direct access to the recruitment opportunities available in airlines the world over.

Since its inception in 1990 the programmes offered by the Airline Recruitment and Training Company have been steadily developed and modified so that by 1996 the company had a fully externally accredited course. In the following year distance learning was introduced. According to Julie Rushton, distance learning has "worked particularly well and added enormously to the quality of our provision and in 1998 we were extremely proud to gain accreditation from ODL QC as a hallmark and testament to how well combining distance learning and day assessment has been to improve quality results".