Cebu Pacific inks partnership with aviation training expert

CEBU, Philippines - With the forecast outlook of the robust growth in aviation industry for Asia Pacific particularly in terms of the number of aircrafts to be delivered and additional pilots to be needed, listed budget airline Cebu Pacific Air inked a strong partnership with global aviation training leader CAE to provide a standardized and internationally-recognized pilot training in the Philippines.

The Philippine Academy for Aviation Training, Inc. (PAAT) is a joint venture of Cebu Pacific and CAE that was also primarily created to support the airline company’s growing fleet and future expansion strategies. It further aims to capture the fast-growing regional third-party training requirements for commercial aviation in the country.

Located at Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga, PAAT is a US$ 50-million specialized training facility for airbus aircraft that was formally inaugurated last December.

Last July 12, members of the Visayas and Mindanao media had a familiarization tour in the facility and experienced to operate a flight simulator with the supervision of PAAT training head Capt. Ronaldo Mendoza.

PAAT general manager Arvi Perez said that the aviation industry expects an estimate of 10,000 Airbus aircraft to be delivered in the Asia Pacific region by 2031.

The forecast outlook, he added, cited that 4,505 passenger aircrafts will be expected to be delivered from 2012 to 2021 while 5,113 more are slated for delivery from 2022 to 2031. To date, the region is 35 percent done with the 20-year total new deliveries.

He further noted that there is also a projected global demand of 460,000 pilots for 2031, 185,600 of which will be coming from Asia Pacific.

Currently, PAAT is training 11 pilots for the initial type rating course who all expressed intent to enter Cebu Pacific and who also passed the pre-screening test of the airline company. Seven of these trainees are from foreign countries.

The initial type rating program that officially started last May is comprised of an early line training, jet familiarization and multi-crew cooperation training courses.

Perez explained that these are designed to familiarize students with the jet aircraft and multi-crew operations, let them learn how to operate a plane with jet engines apart from their prior knowledge of flying a propeller during their basic flying course and teach them to fly an airline jet with a co-pilot.

PAAT has an Airbus Procedures Transition Trainer (APTT), two A320-level D full flight simulators that cost US$ 11 million each, once computer-based training room, six classrooms, ten briefing rooms, two APPT rooms, a pilot lounge and a cafeteria.  Trainees are also provided with training materials such as bags, manuals and diskettes.

A flight simulator is a device that integrates mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, and digital processing systems to realistically represent in real-time the operation of a sophisticated piece of equipment in a complex environment.

It has a simulated aircraft cockpit that is an exact replica of the specific aircraft being simulated which according to Perez, is intended “to make the training environment as realistic as possible, so that the skills learned here are easily applied in real life.”

Perez also pointed out the airbus standardization program for instructors of PAAT who have been standardized by Airbus flight instructors from Toulouse, France. Through CAE, PAAT belongs to the CAE-Airbus Training Cooperation and adopts the standard Airbus training footprint.

“This also sets PAAT apart from other training centers. We teach them the same way so our trainees are guaranteed they won’t get confused,” he said.

Cebu Pacific, for its part, has expressed its plans to get its pilots exclusively from PAAT but Perez clarified that PAAT graduates are not obligated to solely work for the former. —/JMD (FREEMAN)