CAE has been selected to create a new authorized pilot training center in Dammam at the behest of the Saudi National Company of Aviation (SNCA).

The CAE Authorized Training Center will provide a commercial pilot license curriculum and courseware and will be funded by SNCA. Plans call for locating the facility at a 40,000-sq-m site at King Fahad International Airport in Dammam.

“Developing the pilots of tomorrow is our priority, and as the leading worldwide training organisation in the world, CAE is the suitable partner to help us with the launch of this project and to accompany us in this journey,” said SNCA president and CEO Othman Al Moutairi.

SNCA aims to address a significant shortfall in pilots that is troubling airline planners in the Gulf Cooperation Council. “It also recognises the skills of individuals in the region and the need to have a regionally-based professional career path for qualifying students,” SNCA said.