Ten years after Emirates teamed with CAE to launch the Middle East's first third-party simulator centre, to meet soaring demand for pilot and maintenance technician training, the joint venture - ECFT - is planning a second facility in Dubai.
Scheduled to open next year, the site will house four full-flight simulators, with plans to expand to 10. ECFT chairman Gary Chapman said continued airline growth in the Gulf and surrounding regions "is driving the need for additional highly qualified flight deck crew and maintenance personnel". The original centre - part of the Emirates Aviation College complex near Dubai International Airport - opened in 2003 with six simulators and now has 12.
Aircraft catered for include Airbus and Boeing narrowbodies, the Boeing 777 and a range of business jets and helicopters from Bell, Bombardier, Dassault, Gulfstream and Hawker Beechcraft. Further simulators are sited at Emirates' in-house crew training centre alongside.
Source: Flight Daily News
