Ethiopian airlines announced that it has taken delivery of three Cessna 172 Pilot training aircraft on Thursday 24 July 2014, from Cessna Aircraft Company.
The new Cessna 172 is a four seat; single-engine airplane certified in the United States in 2003 and in Europe in 2005. Ethiopian has also bought and received 12 Diamond training aircraft from the Austrian Diamond Aircraft Manufacturing Company to enhance the quality of pilot training it provides.
Mr.Tewolde Gebremariam, CEO of Ethiopian Airlines Group said “Human resource development is one of the four pillars we set in order to achieve our vision 2025 strategic plan. That’s why we took serious measures in developing and modernizing our aviation academy. Our plan is to own a leading Pan-African aviation training center by 2025 that will accept and train multinational aviation professionals from all over the world. The addition of these aircraft will significantly enhance our pilot training capacity.”
The pilot training school of Ethiopian Aviation Academy is approved by Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority, European Aviation Safety Agency and the Federal Aviation Administration to give world class trainings in commercial Pilot License (CPL), Private Pilot License (PPL) and Multi Pilot License (MPL) trainings using state-of-the-art training simulators and professional instructors.
The Ethiopian Airlines Aviation Academy is the largest aviation training provider in Africa. In 2014 the Academy was recognized as “Airline Service Provider of the Year” by the African Airline Association (AFRAA) for its cost effective and extensive training support to other sisterly African airlines. The academy offers modern, quality and certified aviation trainings for Pilots, Aviation Technicians, Cabin Crew and other personnel.
Ethiopian Airlines is currently undertaking a massive expansion projects on its Aviation Academy with a total cost of more than 80 million USD. Its annual intake capacity has dramatically increased over the last four years from a little more than 200 students to over 1,000 trainees a year. Per vision 2025, the academy plans to further increase its intake capacity up to over 4,000 by 2025, with almost two –third of the trainees will be from other customers.
Source: Ethiopian Press Release
