By STEPHEN LLEWELLYN
dgleg@nb.aibn.com

Published Tuesday August 14th, 2007

Appeared on page A3

The new $16-million flight school at the Fredericton International Airport is getting ready to welcome its second class of Chinese students.

"It is going well," said Bob Henderson, director of flight operations for Moncton Flight College , the parent school to the Fredericton outfit.

"There are 21 students there now," he said. "There is another 20 arriving the beginning of September."

The Moncton Flight School has a $60-million contract to train pilots for China Eastern Airline and Air China.

When the Moncton airport ran out of the space, the flight school set up a franchise in Fredericton this spring through Saint John-based Canlink Aviation.

China needs 1,200 new airline pilots every year and there are 50 airports under construction in that country right now.

Moncton Flight School estimates there could be as many as 100 Chinese-pilot students living at the facility’s Fredericton residence by next year and learning to fly in 10 training aircraft.

"There are currently three (planes)," said Henderson. "We have three more arriving this fall."

He said the students in Fredericton divide their day into two sections. They spend half the day in class studying aviation and English, he said.

"The other half of the day they are flying," said Henderson. "If the weather is not great that day, they are studying."

There are about 15 training flights a day that run from sun up to sun down, he said.

"That will increase this fall as the number of students increase," said Henderson. "It will almost double this fall."

The flight school only flies planes during daylight hours. But by November, the first group will practise night operations.

"We will be going around the clock," said Henderson.

He said there have been no complaints from neighbours about noise from the extra flights.

David Innes, president and a CEO of the Greater Fredericton Airport Authority, said the airport is pleased with the flight school.

"Their facilities are all up and running and the first group of students have arrived," he said.

The flight school is not causing operational problems for the airport, said Innes.

"We have spared capacity at the airport to fulfil the needs that the flight school has," he said.

"We generally have pretty good weather here.

"It means a significant increase in the amount of traffic that we have."

NavCanada is upgrading its manpower in the control tower to keep up with that traffic, said Innes.

Despite the extra traffic, the Fredericton International Airport still has plenty of room if another airline wants to set up shop.

"I don’t think the flight school is going to challenge us for capacity," said Innes. "We could handle a few more (commercial) flights here."

He said there has been no complaints registered with the airport about the extra traffic.

"These are small aircraft and very quiet," said Innes.

"They are new generation aircraft and so much quieter than the old ones. You can hardly hear them up there."