CAE ELECTRONICS has revealed commercial flight-simulation orders exceeding C$100 million ($72 million), including its first sale to Airbus Industrie. The Canadian firm is predicting increased sales over the next two years, based on strong aircraft orders over the past year.
The new orders include seven full-flight simulators, for Air Canada (Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet); Airbus (A320); Emirates (Airbus A330/A340); Korean Air (Boeing 747-400); Swissair (A330); and United Airlines (two 747-400s). The Air Canada, Airbus and Swissair orders include CAE's MaxVue visual system.
Also included among the orders announced by the Canadian company are those for four training devices - for the Civil Aviation Institute of China (Boeing 737-300 Level 5 maintenance-trainer), Singapore Airlines (Boeing 777-200 flight-management- system trainer) and United Airlines (two Boeing 757-200 Level 5 flight-training devices).
CAE recently announced a contract from FedEx to supply two Level 7 fixed-base simulators for the McDonnell Douglas MD-10, a DC-10 freighter upgraded with Honeywell VIA 2000 integrated avionics to match the two-crew cockpit of FedEx's MD-11s. The contract includes options for two MD-11 full-flight simulators, one fixed-base simulator and two Level 6 flight-training devices. Deliveries are scheduled to begin by September 1998.
The Canadian company has also received a US Airways contract to upgrade four simulators and two flight-training devices, with options for a further ten upgrades.
CAE Electronics has received C$32 million from the Canadian Government's Technology Partnerships Canada programme to fund visual-system development. The investment takes the form of a loan, which is repayable with royalties on sales.
Source: Flight International
