SINGAPORE: A commercial pilot training academy has been set up
by Singapore Technologies Aerospace (ST Aerospace) and the Aviation
Training Academy Singapore (ATAS) to meet the rising demand for
pilots in Asia.
The Singapore-based joint venture company, known as ST Aviation
Training Academy (STATA), will start flight training in Australia
by next month, with synthetic centric flight training scheduled to
start in Singapore by early 2009 at its Seletar Airport
facility.
The academy will provide traditional pilot training and once it
receives endorsements from relevant airworthiness authorities, it
will include a Multi-crew Pilot Licence (MPL) programme with
advanced teaching and simulation technologies in a multi-crew
cooperation environment. This will enable pilots to be trained in
half the time required as compared to traditional training.
This year alone, airlines in the Asia Pacific require over 40,000
pilots, but there may only be 30,000 trained pilots. According to
Boeing, airlines around the world will also need 17,000 new pilots
every year until 2024 to keep up with new aircraft
deliveries.
Noting the strong demand for pilots in Asia due to the upturn in
the aviation industry and record number of aircraft deliveries over
the next few years, Eddie Ong, President of STATA said the company
wanted to seize an early mover advantage using the MPL
programme.
"MPL training is a state-of-the-art approach, tailored to meet
today's airlines requirements. It challenges the mindset shift
from conventional pilot training methodologies to that available
under MPL, and we are confident this evolutionary MPL programme
will bring tremendous value for the airline industry," he
said.
ST Aerospace will operate and manage STATA as a part of its global
network, drawing on its aircraft engineering and military pilot
training expertise, as well as ATAS airline management and
commercial pilot training experience.
The aerospace arm of ST Engineering owns a 70 per cent stake in the
joint-venture with ATAS, and the investment is not expected to
create any material impact on the consolidated net tangible assets
per share and earnings per share of ST Engineering for the current
financial year. CNA/yb
Source