Southampton: CTC Aviation expands Diamond Fleet

World-leading airline pilot training company, CTC Aviation has announced that it will equip its newest flight training centre in Phoenix, Arizona in the United States, with a fleet of brand new, Garmin1000 glass cockpit-equipped, Diamond Aircraft with Austro engines.

This investment in state-of-the-art technology will see the Solent-based company's international training fleet grow to a total of 56 aircraft distributed between the company’s Crew Training Centres in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and the USA.

The order includes single-engine DA40 and twin-engine DA42 (NG) aircraft. The first two DA40 aircraft will be delivered to CTC Aviation’s Phoenix (USA) facilities this month. A further five DA40s and three DA42s are scheduled to arrive before the end of 2014.

“We were one of the first flight training providers to select the DA42 aircraft and have been operating a fleet of Diamond single- and twin-engine aircraft out of our New Zealand flight training facilities for almost 10 years. We have found their safety record, efficiency and economics, state-of-the-art avionics and outstanding flight characteristics to be unbeatable,” commented Rob Clarke, group CEO of CTC Aviation.

“CTC Aviation’s philosophy is to deliver airline-focused training to our cadets so that our CTC Partner Airlines receive new entrant pilots that are fully prepared for the airline environment and today’s new generation jet aircraft.

“We are committed to investing wisely in technology and selecting training resources that befit our specific needs. In this particular field of our business – our cadet airline pilot training activity - our need is to ensure that the transition through the various phases of flight and simulator training – whether as part of the traditional Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL) or the new Multi-crew Pilot Licence (MPL) route - is as safe and seamless as possible. Diamond Aircraft offers the most complete solution: A modern fleet of piston aircraft with the best flight training performance characteristics and safety record in the industry.”

CTC Aviation annually trains approximately 2,000 new and experienced pilots for 50 major airlines globally. Its world-renowned cadet pilot training programme, CTC WINGS, currently trains 300 new pilots annually for the CTC Partner Airlines which include easyJet, British Airways, Qatar Airways, Dragonair and the Jetstar Group.

The company recently announced its expansion into the United States and its latest Crew Training Centre in Phoenix has capacity for up to a further 200 trainee airline pilots per annum. This Diamond Aircraft order forms part of the US$7 million investment CTC Aviation is making to equip its new facility in readiness for the first trainees who are due to commence training in April 2014.