Dubai: Emirates is soon to open its massive training site for pilots and its getting some new aircraft dedicated to the facility.
At least two of the 22 aircraft ordered for the site, which has its own private runway, have just arrived in Dubai, after hours of transatlantic journey from the United States.
The Cirrus SR22 G6 aircraft will be used by the airline’s new flight training facility, to help train ab initio pilots.
“[They] will form the backbone of the training fleet of the Emirates Flight Training Academy,” the company said in a statement.
The facility, which is said to be one of the most advanced of its kind in the world, occupies a massive area the size of 200 football fields near Dubai World Central (DWC) airport in Dubai South.
It is set to open its doors in November 2017 and it will offer ground school classrooms, ground-based simulators, a 1,800-square-metre dedicated runway, an independent air traffic control tower, a maintenance centre, accommodation and recreational facilities for cadets, in addition to a “young and modern” training aircraft fleet.
The facility is for Emirates’ National Cadet Pilot Programme. According to previous announcements, the site will also have the capacity to train a large number of pilots from other airlines.
To reach Dubai, the single-piston engine aicraft, A6-CTA and A6-CTB, had to travel 13,000 kilometres from their manufacturing facilities in the United States, passing through 10 countries, including Canada, Iceland, Scotland, Venice and Bahrain and making 11 stops along the way.
Aside from the two aircraft, Emirates has also placed an order for five twin-jet Embraer Phenom 100EV, becoming the first flight training organisation in the world to use such aircraft for training.
Serving from its hub in Dubai, Emirates flies to 154 airports in 82 countries. It has the world’s largest fleets of Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 aircraft.
