CAE (Hall 3 C60) and Mitsui (Hall 4 F169) announced that they plan to establish a joint-venture training center in Japan for the new Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ).
The Montreal headquartered-training provider announced last year that it would cooperate as an equal partner with the Japanese company to develop training for the MRJ under a 10-year exclusive program. The center will open in 2013. That same year CAE will add an MRJ simulator to one of its locations in Central America, which Mitsui may support. The MRJ is set to enter service in 2014 with launch customer Al Nippon.
CAE will build two 7000-series MRJ level-D, full-flight simulators (FFS), as well as integrated procedures trainers. The company will also develop courses for pilots, technicians, cabin crew, dispatchers and ground support staff.
Ichizo Kobayashi, Mitsui’s COO Marine & Aerospace business unit, said, “The strong relationship between Mitsui and CAE spans four decades. This joint venture broadens our relationship and expands the services we offer together to promote the growth and safety of civil aviation.”
Elsewhere in Asia, CAE is to expand its partnership with Asia’s largest low-cost carrier, AirAsia, and open a new training center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Asian Aviation Center of Excellence will provide instruction for airline personnel of all types throughout Southeast Asia.
The company also offers a multi-crew pilot license (MPL) program in conjunction with AirAsia. The initial class of 12 cadets completed its training this May in Toronto and were presented their MPL licenses by Transport Canada, a first under the new Transport Canada performance-based regulatory framework.
CAE is forging inroads into the Asian market. This March it announced a partnership with China Southern Airlines to expand its Zhuhai training joint venture by adding a 3000 Series S76C++ helicopter simulator. Several airlines in the region took simulators, and CAE Bangalore Training Centre became the first independent type-rating training organization approved by India’s Directorate General Civil Aviation (DGCA). CAE also signed a five-year contract with IndiGo to train ab initio pilots.
CAE ended fiscal year 2011 with 29 civil FFS sales, nine up on 2010. The order book included world’s firsts with several manufacturers: two Airbus A350 XWB sims, a Bombardier Learjet 85 FFS and an ATR 42/72-600 FFS. The company also built India’s first advanced, full-fidelity helicopter simulator certified to level D by the DGCA and EASA.
The Montreal provider is set to double its business aviation-training footprint with new locations in Europe, Latin America and Asia, as well as additional training in Dubai and Dallas.
“Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier and others have consistently been predicting a need for more than 23,000 new pilots annually over the next 20 years, and a similar number of new maintenance personnel. This represents increasing opportunities for CAE,” said CAE president for civil simulation products Jeff Roberts.
Finally, CAE also completed its acquisition of CHC Helicopter’s training operations to become the latter’s training provider in March. “We acquired CHC Helicopter’s flight-training operations and announced the execution of an agreement by which CAE is CHC’s long-term training partner, responsible for training more than 2,000 helicopter pilots and maintenance engineers,” said Roberts.
