Malaysian carrier AirAsia has contracted Canadian training and simulation specialist CAE (stand 1107, Hall A) to provide two Airbus A320 full flight simulators (FFS) and two A320 CAE Simfinity maintenance/flight-training devices.
CAE’s tally of simulators sold in the current fiscal year stands at 17, more than half of them destined for Asia-Pacific carriers. Other orders in the year have come from Japan Airlines, China Eastern, All Nippon and Jet Airways. With a total of 25 FFS customers in the region, CAE has enjoyed 67% market share over the past five years.
Marc Parent, CAE group president simulation products, expects that success to continue. “The forecasts for aviation growth in the region, China and India particularly, are mind-boggling,” he says. “And probably the biggest opportunity for us lies in the challenge operators face in getting trained flightcrews. We see big growth in anything to do with the training of crews.”
CAE has a regional training presence in the form of its established centre in the Chinese city of Zuhai. This joint venture with China Southern is due to be expanded with another six simulator bays. “We should be able to say more about this in the next few months,” comments Parent. “In the meantime we’re looking at the possibility of setting up flight academies in China to help meet the demand for pilots.”
CAE’s Chinese FFS customers include China Southern, Air China and Hainan Airlines as well as China Eastern. “We do hope to win other carriers there,” says Parent. “We expect to sell to any airline that starts up in China. There’s competition, of course, but it’s a big market and we aim to do well.”
The company’s ambitions for India include a Zuhai-style simulator training centre. “We’re interested in setting up an operation similar to Zuhai,” confirms Parent. “And we want to go on supporting existing flight schools by supplying simulators.”
In the last few months CAE has hit a rich vein of business in the subcontinent. In November low-cost carriers SpiceJet and Kingfisher Airlines contracted the company to provide Airbus A320 and Boeing Next Generation 737 pilot training at Emirates-CAE Flight Training in Dubai.
Another Indian low-cost carrier, Air Deccan, has selected CAE to provide simulation equipment and services for its A320 and ATR 42/72 fleets. The package will be implemented in the new six-bay training centre that the airline plans to build in Bangalore and open in the first half of next year.
Most recently, Mumbai-based Jet Airways ordered a 737-800 FFS and integrated procedures trainer, along with a visual system upgrade for its existing 737 800 simulator. Deliveries are scheduled for early next year.
Source: Flight Daily News
