Lufthansa subsidiary’s joint venture with Hainan Airlines and Shenzhen Airlines to train 400 new pilots a year
Lufthansa Flight Training subsidiary InterCockpit plans to open a Chinese ab initio flight training school in 2007 with joint venture partners Hainan Airlines and Shenzhen Airlines.
China Aviation Supplies Import & Export Corporation (CASC) says it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Lufthansa, Hainan and Shenzhen to set up a school capable of training 400 pilots a year.
“We’re in negotiations and have been for some time with Chinese authorities,” confirms InterCockpit chief ground instructor Jeff Dobson. “Obviously there is a market in China we’ve identified for our training product.”
InterCockpit now trains 40-45 pilots a year in Germany and has been looking to expand internationally, particularly in India and China, where there is a growing shortage of pilots. All of InterCockpit’s students are now self-sponsored, 80% from Germany, but the school hopes to attract airline-sponsored students from Asia to its German campus and to set up schools abroad.
Last year InterCockpit forged a partnership with the Civil Aviation Flight University of China (CAFUC), which envisaged sending Chinese cadets to Germany for training by mid-2005 (Flight International, 12-18 October 2004). But, Dobson says, CAFUC students have not yet begun training at InterCockpit because a contract is still being negotiated. InterCockpit parent Lufthansa Flight Training must also complete a contract with CASC, Hainan and Shenzhen before plans for the new school in China are finalised.
Hainan has wanted to set up its own school for several years to ensure it has enough pilots to meet its expansion requirements. The new joint venture school with InterCockpit is an addition to its planned affiliation with Flying Dragon, a new ab initio school that is planning to open in September with Hainan as a majority owner.
The Chinese government is also encouraging the opening of new pilot schools, spurring the involvement of government-owned CASC in the Lufthansa project.
BRENDAN SOBIE/SINGAPORE
Source: Flight International
