CLARK FREEPORT – With the high demand for pilots of wide- bodied aircraft globally, Alpha Aviation Group has moved to ensure its students can keep pace with the current technology by acquiring a flight simulator – A330 with A340 functionality. It thus becomes the first flying school in the country to secure such multi-million dollar equipment for its cadets.
“The Airbus A330/A340 will serve as an invaluable training tool for foreign and home-grown cadets making Alpha Aviation Group (Philippines) students on a par with other international air academy across the globe,” AAG said in a statement.
AAG regional director Cristopher Magdangal said the acquisition of an Airbus A330 full flight simulator with A340 functionality, will make the device unique in the entire Asia-Pacific region in the next decade. He said it will help boost the Philippines’ bid to become a global aviation training hub.
“AAG will soon be the aviation training center of excellence,” Magdangal claimed. He said the AAG is well-positioned to assist the regional airlines in their aggressive expansion plans.
With the new equipment, Magdangal said AAG now has two flight simulators including one for A320, which was inaugurated early this year.
The acquisition of the A330/A340 flight simulator came amid tremendous growth of the airline industry in Southeast Asia, where demand for commercial pilots is high but supply is short, said Magdangal.
Citing a Boeing forecast, Magdangal said about 617,000 more commercial pilots will be needed globally by 2034; and that 248,000 pilots, or 40 percent, are for Southeast Asia alone.
“Southeast Asia’s wide-bodied fleet grow by more than 30 percent in 2015 and AAG is committed to supply qualified and competent pilots,” Magdangal said.
With the purchase of the state-of-the-art equipment, AAG will surely produce quality pilots for the wide-body segment in the airline industry at a lower cost of training.
