Press Release

Issued by CAE Dubai Al Garhoud - Emirates-CAE Flight Training.

December 19, 2014

In response to the rapid and continued growth of the aviation industry in the Middle East, Emirates-CAE Flight Training (ECFT) will further expand its second Dubai training facility located at Dubai Silicon Oasis. As part of the expansion, ECFT will increase the number of bays from five to ten and add two new full-flight simulators (FFSs), one Boeing B737-800W and one Gulfstream 650, as well as a CAE Simfinity integrated procedures trainer (IPT) and state-of-the-art virtual classrooms.

The CAE-built Boeing B737-800W and the Gulfstream 650 FFSs will be CAE 7000 XR Series equipped with the latest CAE Tropos 6000 XR visual system. Both simulators will be delivered at the centre over the next 12 to 18 months. The simulators, the CAE Simfinity training devices and classrooms will be used for training pilots from the Middle East and other regions including Europe, Africa and Asia. The facility currently houses five FFSs, providing pilots with breakthrough visual realism, cockpit replication and high-fidelity avionics simulation with flight and ground-handling characteristics indistinguishable from an operational aircraft.

"The aviation industry in the Middle East is already an international leader and Dubai is the ultimate hub. We are seeing strong demand in the region for high-quality training programs and capacity for existing and new aircraft entering the business aviation and commercial market segments," said Walter Visser, managing director of Emirates-CAE Flight Training. "Since we opened our first training centre in the region 12 years ago, the growth has been impressive. We will continue to invest in the training infrastructure in the region to ensure the needs of our customers are met, and that we are supporting the continued growth of the aviation industry in the region and beyond."

ECFT currently operates two flight training centres in Dubai, and this expansion will increase the number of bays available to pilots to 24. The 55,000 square foot Dubai Silicon Oasis facility is one of the largest in the region, training commercial and business pilots.

ECFT is jointly operated by Emirates airline, a global connector of people, places and economies, and CAE, a global leader in modelling, simulation and training for civil aviation and defence. The original facility in Garhoud, Dubai, was the first training centre of its kind in the Middle East to be approved by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA). The second facility, located in the Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO), was inaugurated in May 2013.

ECFT services over 200 aviation clients and trains more than 11,000 pilots and technicians a year on a range of Airbus, Bell Helicopter, Boeing, Bombardier, Dassault, Gulfstream and Hawker Beechcraft aircraft types. Commercial airlines, business aircraft and helicopter operators also train their crews and maintenance staff at ECFT. In addition, management works in close collaboration with more than 30 different national aviation authorities to ensure that their specific requirements are also fulfilled.