Beijing, China   

For Immediate Release   

In an historic signing ceremony in Beijing on Thursday, October 20th, the Moncton Flight College (MFC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (BUAA) to deliver pilot training beginning in 2006.   

The agreement between MFC and BUAA, worth approximately $60 million (Canadian currency), targets up to 100 pilots trained per year over a five year period. It will become the largest civilian pilot training contract ever awarded to a flight training school in Canada.

Moncton Flight College , located in Moncton New Brunswick , has a long history of flight training in Atlantic Canada. It has been training pilots from around the world since 1929 and during that time has taught over 15,000 pilots to fly. MFC is one of the top producers of commercial pilots in Canada .  The school graduates 120 students a year. The contract between MFC and BUAA will double the number of students attending the college.  

Mike Doiron, Principal and CEO of MFC, said the timing couldn’t be better for MFC. There is a huge demand for pilots in Northeast Asia and existing training facilities can’t handle the numbers of students needed to fill these positions.   

“China alone needs to train approximately 1200 pilots a year,” Doiron said. “MFC recently expanded their facilities by building a brand new training centre and residence, so are prepared to handle the increased number of students.”   

Mike Tilley , President of CANLink Global, MFC’s partner in China says the Moncton Flight College’s industry reputation, lengthy history, safety record and leading edge training techniques are what have brought them this far in China. 

“There’s clearly a demand and interest in MFC’s history,” he said, “But they’re modern training techniques, excellent safety record, state-of-the-art training facilities, and extremely low pilot drop out rate are what really set them apart.”  

The Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, established in 1952, has graduated over 70,000 aerospace graduates. In the early 1990s it established a flying college to match the increasing demand for pilot training in China. Since then it has built relationships with universities and colleges in other parts of the world, primarily Australia, to increase its capacity to train pilots. Its new relationship with MFC will be the first in Canada.   

With the first group of students scheduled to arrive in early spring, the critical next step for MFC is to gain approval from the Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC) to deliver the training.  The CAAC is scheduled to visit MFC in February, 2006.   

“We are very excited about this new relationship with the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics,” said Doiron. “With CAAC coming in February, we should have our first students by late March, early April.”

Minister of Training and Employment Development for the Province of New Brunswick , Margaret-Ann Blaney, officially witnessed the signing. “We are very proud of what Moncton Flight College has accomplished.  This is a wonderful opportunity for our province and we are very excited for the college and our community.  The spin-off benefits associated with this new relationship with BUAA are tremendous.”  

MFC has also received interest from a number of airlines throughout China for training.  In November the college will welcome a delegation from Shandong Airlines.   

“Our contract with BUAA is just the beginning for us,” Doiron said.

Doing business in China is not always easy, but Tilley believes MFC’s focused strategy has been critical to getting them this far.