CTC ramps up training at NZHN - More overcrowding?
Sounds like HN's busy airspace will just get busier, doe's anyone else have a problem with the current 2 frequency system in place at NZHN??
City flight training operation wins new contract
By CHRIS GARDNER - Waikato Times | Wednesday, 26 March 2008
A Hamilton pilot training operation is expecting to be busier after winning a three-year contract to provide Boeing 737-400 training for Vietnamese pilots.
CTC Aviation New Zealand, based at Boyd Rd, at Hamilton Airport, will benefit after its UK parent company, the CTC Aviation Group, was given Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam approval to train Vietnamese pilots employed by the expanding Pacific Airlines in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
CTC Aviation New Zealand chief executive John Jones said the Hamilton crew training centre would see an increase in training activity as a result of the partnership.
"Our crew training centre in Hamilton currently trains around 200 airline pilots a year. We expect to expand this significantly within the next twelve months," Mr Jones said.
The company, which is looking to increase the number of New Zealand pilots it trains tenfold to about 100, has strategic partnerships with 52 airlines around the world. The Hamilton training centre is one of four the company has internationally the other three are in the UK where the first group of Pacific Airlines pilots has already begun training.
As part of the partnership, CTC's Boeing instructor and examiner team was audited and approved by the Vietnamese civil aviation authority and will be actively involved in the training and examining of the new pilots.
Pacific Airlines was formed in 1992. Qantas took a 30 per cent share in the company last year and a rebranding is expected before July.
In the first stage of another new partnership, CTC has sold a Boeing 737 300/400/500 flight simulator to Lithuanian pilot training company flyLALTraining. The simulator is the first of its kind in Lithuania, as only theoretical training was previously offered, and marks the beginning of a partnership which will see the two trainers working closer together.
CTC and flyLAL have signed a framework agreement establishing the terms for future co-operation over the training and supply of flight deck and cabin crew.
According to the agreement, CTC and flyLAL will identify areas of mutual interest and develop co-operative programmes for the supply of pilots and cabin crew, as well as the delivery of training courses, to airlines within Europe and Russia.