Sky-High in Sukhothai: Bangkok Airways Optimistic on Pilot-Training School
By Boonsong Kositchotethana, Bangkok Post, Thailand
Mar. 24–The skies are changing over the sleepy ancient province of Sukhothai — home to two Unesco world heritage sites.
The sight of civil aircraft, now only four a day in the form of Bangkok Airways’ ATR 72-200 turboprops, will soon be more common as the skies buzz with small training airplanes. The airspace around the 700-year-old province of the “Dawn of Happiness” and its adjoining locations will become a training ground for foreign civil pilot cadets.
Bangkok Airways and Flight Training Services International (FTSI), a Miami-based flight training academy, are working to open what would be Thailand’s first commercial pilot traning school that focuses on overseas students.
The two parties are forming a joint venture, initially requiring capital of up to 500 million baht, to establish Bangkok Flight Academy (BFA) in the neighbourhood of Sukhothai Airport, which was built and operated by Bangkok Airways.
BFA, 75 percent-owned by the Thai airline and 25 percent by FTSI, is being set up to cash in on the surging demand for commercial pilots from fast-growing airlines in Asia. New pilot demand is expected to reach 7,000 over the next three years.
Around the world, the aerospace industry needs to attract and train more than 18,000 pilots annually through 2024 to match the spectacular growth rate of air travel demand. BFA’s establishment is also aimed at adding value to the underutilised Sukhothai Airport, about 35 km from Sukhothai city.
The development forms part of the ambition of Prasert Prasarttong-Osoth, Bangkok Airways’ founder and chief executive, to put Sukhothai on the region’s aviation map. “BFA can become another export for Thailand,” the veteran executive with 40 years of experience in aviation business told the Bangkok Post.
The Sukhothai academy would cover about 50 rai, comprising a school, a lodging complex complete with sports facilities and hangars. A fleet of 25 single-engine light aircraft and two small twin-engine jets, all new, would be acquired for the training facilities.
Flight simulators for Airbus A319/A320 jets are part of the additional facilities being planned for the future at BFA as it gears up for a larger operation.
These versions of Airbus jetliners are widely used by regional airlines for short-haul flights including Bangkok Airways. It is putting eight Airbus A319s and two A320s in its fleet and can use the simulators to train its own pilots.
The institution is scheduled to start receiving its first batch of cadets for the Commercial Airline Pilot Training (CAPT) Programme, to be conducted entirely in English by American and international trainers in November. BFA’s capacity is 240 cadets but it wants to raise the number of graduates to 400 a year.
The institution would be largely training cadets sent by regional airlines, including those in China, where explosive growth would require up to 4,000 pilots in coming years, Dr Prasert said.
The school would also meet Bangkok Airways’ own demand.
There would be about 50-60 flight trainers at BFA, and the facility aims for a six-to-one trainer to student ratio, said Bangkok Airways executives. The cost of training, a period of 12 months, is around two million baht per cadet.
The Sukhothai venture is part of FTSI’s bid to build CAPT training centres around the world, especially in high-growth aviation markets such as Asia. FTSI acquired the Commercial Airline Pilot Training (CAPT) Programme in August 2006 from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, billed as the world leader in aerospace and aviation education.
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Copyright (c) 2008, Bangkok Post, Thailand
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