Gulf Air joint venture with Oxford Aviation?

[.Aero]

It would appear that a Gulf Air tender for a joint venturship in a new training centre has been awarded to Oxford Aviation for a sum of 3.1 mil BHD (USD 8.4 mil).

Picture taken from Bahrain's Alwasat News.

Does anyone have further details or information?

http://i36.tinypic.com/es5nc7.jpg

[Dropp the Pilot]

....sources close to Oxford Aviation say that the initial tranche of funds is an anonymous donation from a UAE bank account in the amount of 111,000 dirhams. The originator of the funds idenfies himself as "Mazal Tov!".

Strange, you say? I say 'follow the money!'

[ddd]

Always nice to read about these things on PPRUNE and the newspapers before our bosses tell us!
:ok:

[simsrus]

Show me the Joint part of the Venture....we expect to be out of GF...as non employees....seems a bit lop sided to be Joint? Amost a sellout....:{:bored: any winners in this deal wont be current employes... cv dusting is on the todo list!!!

[gilderoy lockhart]

Any Idea what th JV between Oxford and Gulf is for. Maybe an MPL Programme?

[.Aero]

Does anyone know how well utilized the GF sim centre is? Are the sims 'flying' 24/7 ?

[simsrus]

As for the question regarding the utilization of the simulators...
B767 Nada Presently for Obvious reasons....odd bit here and there ...:confused:
A330/A340 8-12 per day infrequently more:(
A320 16-20 hours per day with a few days per week 24/7 so its busy:ok:

Yes, MPL is the goal or one of the goals atleast...:ok:

The point however was the current Staff and how they will be treated after the JV. All pointers indicate the Staff will no longer be GF Employees and a concern for some.:{:ugh:

[gilderoy lockhart]

Are they intending to set up the whole training centre in Bahrain? With the large amount transfered to Oxford Aviation Training it would look like it.

[.Aero]

Instead of housing idle simulators, could they not create experience 'flights' to sell to the general public as an attraction or host corporate events at the sim centre? At best, it would be another revenue stream for the company. I hate the thought of idle sims!

[simsrus]

Well Boys firstly, the cart is in front of the horse here ...on this subject, no JV has been awarded to anyone yet...what is on the top of this thread is not what the assumption says it is. we have to wait to see what company is selected as the partner, if any, before going any further down this road!:= Can be 1 of 4 scenarios Not Just Oxford.

[.Aero]

Maybe this explains what the recent partnership might be about? Here's part of the slideshow that GF's VP of training gave at a recent MPL forum hosted in Jordan.

The full slide is available as a PDF for download from this URL:

http://www.ftoholdings.com/MPLforum/presentations/Chris_Ranagathan.pdf

http://i37.tinypic.com/ort7x2.jpg

[gilderoy lockhart]

Simsrus, I am slightly confused, you seemed to be contributing to putting the cart in front of the horses in your previous post:

Show me the Joint part of the Venture....we expect to be out of GF...as non employees....seems a bit lop sided to be Joint? Amost a sellout....http://static.pprune.org/images/smilies/boohoo.gifhttp://static.pprune.org/images/smilies/wbored.gif any winners in this deal wont be current employes... cv dusting is on the todo list!!! 27th September 2008 18:07

[simsrus]

My position was really to say that Oxford is not the chosen entity at this stage...thats all, and as for the rest....as an employee we DO Know we will not be part of GF in the End....fact Not Rumour...and the MPL Aspirations were there prior to JV Talk... but thanks for the Slide Cheers mate!

[Che Guevara]

Rumour has it that there was a late bid from a company called Mena Air or similar...anybody ever heard of them? Are they the ones with 1 exec jet at the airport and oh so much experience in running simulator training organisations etc.? Or is this the sindicate made up of ......? Oh well, you know what I mean.... :rolleyes:
As Sarah Palin would probably say "Folks, we need a change" ;), yes indeed we do, if Gulf Air or Bahain want to establish themsleves as an 'internationally' recognised training centre or indeed the recently announced 'internationally recognised aircraft maintenance centre', then they must also realise that they must change the way they do business. The cheap option is usually the worst...furthermore doing MPLs based in a questionable flying school is unlikely to attract many outside the Middle East.
Finally, my point is....lets hope that a joint venture (if there is going to be one) is with someone credible like Oxford or CAE. Well, that is my humble opinion for what it's worth.

Chao

[.Aero]

According to Middle East Business Intelligence (MEED), there were 3 organizations that bid.

- Bahrain based Mena Aerospace Enterprises (http://www.mena-aerospace.com/mainindex.html)
- Canada's CAE (http://www.cae.com)
- UK's Oxford Aviation Academy (http://www.oaa.com/) (formally GCAT)

Oxford is not the chosen entity at this stage...thats allIf that's true, it doesn't explain why Mumtalakat would release Oxford Aviation Academy as the winning bidder to the press? (see original post on this thread)

[CaptainOveur]

I understand the need to have an accredited (or recognizable) partner for a training programme, and certainly Oxford/CAE etc provide some 'cachet' with their names. I don't quite get why it needs to be a JV and therefore a new (separate) company.

Why not buy in/license the expertise from such companies, while retaining it as a GF property? Why not pick the best element from these companies and make the GF Training centre stand out on it's own.

With GF announcing a $50 million hangar facility, $8 mill seems cheap to pick up the training center. How about pumping money into the training centre directly (new sims, new cabin trainers, professional training programs) rather than give half away?

I'm sure someones pockets are getting lined from all the wheeling and dealing going on, where are those nosy MP's when you need them!;)

[ddd]

GF builds one new hanger, they become a maintenance hub. GF buys one new simulator, they become an aviation training hub!
Cloud cooko land!

[gilderoy lockhart]

Che, you referred to doing MPL based in a questionable flying school. I presume this isn't Oxford you are referring to but one based in the middle east all ready?

[Che Guevara]

gilderoy lockhart

You are correct, it certainly was not Oxford that I referred to.

ddd
That is why the GDN is such a great read everyday. Great entertainment!

[.Aero]

based in a questionable flying schoolPerhaps crumbling (http://www.pprune.org/middle-east/343608-ayla-aaa-jordan.html) would be a better word.

[A90A3192021]

Rumors had it Ayla Aviation Academy was going to take part of the First phase of the MPL training. Is this true? :confused:

[Che Guevara]

That indeed is a worry..

[.Aero]

As GF have only been customers of Ayla's 'bridge' courses, I think the current batch of self-sponsored wannabees at Ayla are simply guinea pigs to GF's future MPL vision.

GF need to know what sort of ab-initio pilots Ayla can produce if they are to conduct stages 1 & 2 of the MPL programme in Jordan. GF need access to training records, & student performance, and ultimately need to scrutinize and screen cadets. I believe a gentleman's agreement was drawn up between GF and the self-sponsored cadets which allows GF to keep tabs on their performance and screen them post-training and in exchange, they've been offered interline discounted tickets between Jordan & Bahrain.

Anyone have a copy of this agreement? PMs welcome :ok:

[simsrus]

Just to Be clear...as I say again, Oxford is not the Chosen Entity at this stage...as any of the remaining bidders...What was posted on the inital thread was placed here within hours of the initial bids being opened...nothing was awarded to any company on this day...only the bids being opened. So a great amount of assumption has taken place here and all i have done is attempt to set things in the correct light.
Once again PPRUNE Lives up to its name ........:ok:

Maybe someone from Oxford made the initial Post.?...:=

Take a few moments to see who is on the GF Board and then
Take a few moments to see who is on the Oxford Board....
may Notice Something in Common? .......... Always more to the story than meets the eye....:O

Quote:
Oxford is not the chosen entity at this stage...thats all
If that's true, it doesn't explain why Mumtalakat would release Oxford Aviation Academy as the winning bidder to the press? (see original post on this thread)

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