Air China's - Orient Aviation

MAIN STORYRegulation (CCAR) 141 approval; meaningit meets ICAO’s international standards. Ithas already begun ab initio training withHainan Airlines sending trainee pilots tothe academy.Several other schools have applied forCCAR 141, including Flying Dragon School’sHarbin International Flight Training Centrein Harbin and the Qingdao Jiutian SpartanFlight Academy in Shandong, a joint venturebetween the U.S.-based Spartan School ofAeronautics and local partners, includingShandong Airlines.PanAm, first launched in the region in2003, was the first Chinese-based flyingschool with foreign professionals leading themanagement team. It has built its trainingbase at Zhengding Airport in Shijiazhuangand is now handling some 300 students. Witha current fleet of 31 training aircraft, it plansto have 60 by next year.It is known that several foreign trainingorganizations are also taking a close look atthe possibility of setting up Chinese or Indianoperations.Keith Morgan, head of flight trainingadelaide (fta) in Australia, said the collegehas seen consistent growth in recent years.While no firm plans have been announced forgrowth he indicated a serious look was beingtaken at operations outside Australia.“At present, the demand for pilots inIndia and China offers huge potential for ftaalthough in considering a capture plan forthese markets I would be keen to establishpartnerships that allow for the transfer ofintellectual property and skill. This wouldallow us to take advantage of the benefitswhere they naturally occur,” said Morgan.“Australia clearly has airspace, goodweather and visibility and access toairports. However, India and China mayoffer solutions in other areas of the training,the delivery of theory, simulation and IFRtraining for example.”Fta, owned by Hong Kong’s YoungBrothers Aviation, currently trains pilots forQantas Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways,Dragonair, Taiwan’s China Airlines, China’sZhejiang Airlines, Emirates Airline andothers. In March, it signed a contract withJapan Airlines subsidiary, JAL Express, totrain 40 cadets a year for five years.Few industry executives believe therush of training expansion will result inan eventual glut. As Alpha’s Pearson putit: “The aviation business has always beenvery cyclical, but I think, particularly in Asia,there is going to be a long upward trend.Qantas Airways flight trainingcentre in MelbourneQantas getsin on the actThe increasing demand forcockpit and cabin crew trainingin the Asia-Pacific haspresented an opportunity formajor airlines to compete forthe business. Australia’s Qantas Airways hasmoved to take advantage of the situation.Steve Graham, manager businessdevelopment for flight operations trainingat Qantas Airways has hardly had timeto unpack his bags since joining QantasAirways a little over four months ago.The former army pilot hasbeen roaming around Asiaon a mission to drum up thirdparty business for the airline’sextensive simulator facilitiesin Sydney and Melbourne.After several trips to India, Singaporeand around North Asia, including Japan,he was about to head off again, this timeto China. Qantas, he said, is hoping to winbusiness from airlines around the region forhigh quality pilot and cabin crew trainingas the demand for cockpit crew and flightattendants goes through the roof.Graham’s position is a new one, specificallycreated to take advantage of a businessopportunity. But Qantas is not standingalone. It has signed an agreement of intentwith major training organization Alteon, aBoeing subsidiary, under which the two willbe marketing each other’s training wares.‘ Qantas is steppingup its third partytraining business’Alteon has a simulator centre in Brisbane,which has Boeing B737-700 and -800, AirbusA320 and Boeing B717 simulators. Qantashas Boeing B747, B767, B737-300, -400 and-800, Airbus A330 and A320 simulators. InJune, Alteon will commission another A320full flight simulator at Qantas’ Melbournefacility.“We are working to create an A to Zof flight training at the right price, to puttogether a programme that will cater foreverything from ab initio through transitionto the jet cockpit on oursimulators,” said Graham.While Qantas does nothave its own ab initio flyingacademy – it sends cadets tocentres such as flight trainingadelaide for training – the carrier wants towork with flying schools so that when youngpilots win their air transport pilots licence(ATPL) they can then go directly to Qantasor Alteon simulator centres to be readied forcommercial jet operations.Qantas is focusing on the region’s boomareas – China, India and North Asia – but itisn’t forgetting there is business to be had inSoutheast Asia.And it is targeting the fast expanding lowcostcarrier (LCC) sector.The priority for third party business willbe on B737 and A320 simulators, the aircraftoperated by virtually all LCCs.22 ORIENT AVIATION MAY 2006