ETIHAD PUTS PEN TO PAPER FOR AN AIRBUS A380 FFS
(Posted 12th July 2013)
Word from Abu Dhabi has it that Etihad, Abu Dhabi’s national airline, has ordered their first Airbus A380 full flight simulator, alongside one for the B787 Dreamliner and 5 more for other aircraft types, in an ongoing effort to boost the capacity of their in house aviation academy at the Abu Dhabi airport.
The deal with Canada’s CAE is worth over 200 million US Dollars according to the source and prior orders include simulators for the Airbus A320, among others already in use.
One of Etihad’s roots for their accelerated growth in terms of passenger numbers and cargo uplift are found in the unique partnership with airlines, strategically located around the globe, for which Etihad now delivers training, FFS sessions as mandated by ICAO and local aviation regulations but also maintenance support and other cost saving synergy effects.
The airline’s aviation academy will, when the extension is complete by the end of the year, have 11 FFS’s for various models online, which will make it one of the best equipped such facilities in the Gulf and around the world.
Among the partners of Etihad are Air Seychelles, regularly reported about here and more recently has Kenya Airways signed an extensive cooperation MoU which resulted already in codeshared operations between Nairobi and Abu Dhabi, where the two airlines now fly 10 times a week.
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