| | May 16th, 2006
| | | Flight college gets OK to train Chinese cadets
| | | Multi-million deal expected with Beijing university
The Moncton Flight College could see an estimated $70 million from an influx of cadets from China, says a college official, following approval for a training contract from that country's civil aviation administration.
Mike Doiron, principal and CEO of the college, said the revenue estimate is based on the school receiving all the students that the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, which trains flight pilots for China Southern Airlines, has committed to send in the next five years.
The flight college has finalized all negotiations with the Chinese university and is expecting to sign the deal within a week.
"This is part of a very large growth and expansion program over the next five to ten years." Mr. Doiron said.
"It's really going to place New Brunswick as a key player in the flight training market."
On May 10, the flight school and its trade partner in China, CANLink Global, received authorization from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) to train pilots in Canada.
Mike Tilley, president of CANLink Global, said one of the most beneficial things about the deal is that the Chinese administration has not placed any limitations on the number of students that the Moncton Flight School can train.
"There's an absolutely huge demand in China for pilots," said Mr. Tilley, who estimated that the country needs about 1,200 flyers a year, with over 50 airports in construction.
"It's opened the door for us to be as aggressive that we'd like in our business development."
The authorization application took 18 months, culminating in a document of more than 1,000 pages, which was submitted in June 2005. In March, the Moncton Flight School hosted a four-day conference for the CAAC, during which the college's facilities were inspected.
The Moncton institution, Mr. Doiron said, "passed with flying colours."
The college expects to see 66 Chinese students before the end of 2006 and 80 students in 2007, said Mr. Doiron. He estimated that over the next five years, the school would see about 900 students from the Chinese university.
"It's going to literally double the operation within year one," said Mr. Doiron, with an eightfold increase over five years. "It's a huge, huge expansion."
The Moncton Flight College is one of the top three flight schools in Canada, said Mr. Doiron. He added that the contract would not only catapult them to number one, but could establish them among the top 10 flight training organizations in North America.
A renewable, two-year agreement is expected to be signed with the University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, which has already outlined a five-year work plan with the New Brunswick flight school. Mr. Doiron said the Moncton Flight College is also in talks with several other airlines.
Cadets would come to Canada for a 47-week program that would earn them a commercial pilot's licence meeting the requirements of both Transport Canada and the CAAC.
Five years ago, Chinese authorities who visited the Moncton Flight College said it wasn't capable of handling the number of students they wanted to train. The college then approached the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, which offered them $2.4 million toward the college's $6 million plans to upgrade the facilities into its current 15,000 sq. ft. training centre.
"This would not have been possible if it had not been for the support from ACOA and the Province of New Brunswick," Mr. Doiron said. "This allowed us to go after the European market (and) the Asian market."
He said the new contract will mean Canadian students at the school will also benefit from facilities that will be installed to meet Chinese training criteria. At no extra cost, they will have access to new turbine-powered aircraft and new flight simulators.
The college is currently the only flight training school in the world to have approvals from Transport Canada, the Joint Aviation Authority of Europe, and the CAAC.
Mr. Doiron said they can now pull together the facilities of their European, Chinese, and two Canadian tprograms to "create a master program."
"This is really a first for Canada, to say the least," he said.
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