Mubadala plans to set up aviation training centre

Dubai: Mubadala Development Company and Germany's Lufthansa Technical Training (LTT), intend to set up a joint venture establishing an aviation training centre to be headquartered in Abu Dhabi, a statement said.

Both companies have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Wednesday paving the way for the joint venture which will develop market opportunities and deliver high-quality training courses for the aviation industry throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

"The aim is for the joint venture to ultimately become the benchmark for training in the region across a wide spectrum of aviation functions, including MRO, airport security, and ground handling," said Waleed Al Mokarrab Al Muhairi, COO, Mubadala.

"Together with Lufthansa Technical Training we aim to provide value-enhanced professional training/qualification programmes to meet the growing demands of many of the leading airlines, including Etihad Airways, and for the rapidly increasing airport-operations as well as for MRO facilities like the independent technical services provider Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies, (formerly known as GAMCO). These services will also be offered to residents of countries from all of the MENA region."

LTT will assign highly qualified management resources to oversee all operational issues, including the build-up of in-house capabilities.

"The training programmes being offered will be based on our successful curricula and will utilise the latest training technology being employed by LTT at their worldwide training facilities," said Christoph Meyerrose, LTT's managing director.

In the long term, the training provided by the joint venture could eventually form part of an aviation university program that will deliver aviation undergraduate and graduate degrees to residents based in the UAE and the MENA regions.