Flight Options is to train all its pilots at CAE SimuFlite from February under a three-year agreement valued at $28 million, rising to $48 million if the US fractional-ownership company exercises its option to extend the deal to five years.
Cleveland, Ohio-based Flight Options, wholly owned by Raytheon, will train its pilots at CAE SimuFlite's Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas centre. The fractional operates a fleet of more than 200 aircraft, including the Beechcraft Beechjet 400A and King Air, Bombardier Challenger 601, Cessna CitationJet, Citation V, Citation 650 and Citation X, Dassault Falcon 50, Embraer Legacy, Gulfstream IV and V, and Hawker 400XP and 800XP.
CAE SimuFlite has simulators for all of Flight Options' fleet except the Hawker 400XP, which is an upgrade of the Beechjet 400A, and the Legacy, a derivative of the ERJ-135 regional jet. Flight Options is likely to use the similar ERJ-145 simulator at CAE's Phoenix, Arizona centre.
Rival US fractional NetJets has training provided by sister company FlightSafety International. Bombardier's Flexjet operation has a training centre next to CAE SimuFlite's in Dallas/Forth Worth and the companies have an operating agreement covering their simulators.
Source: Flight International
