Saudi Arabia to establish world's largest aircraft maintenance academy

Photos courtesy of SPA

The Saudi National Company of Aviation (SNCA) has inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Lufthansa Technik to establish the largest international aircraft maintenance academy in Saudi Arabia, Saudi Press Agency (SPA) has reported, citing Larry Wade, CEO at SNCA.

The academy is forecast to train up to 2000 civil and military pilots annually. The new trainees will be certified by both Lufthansa in Germany and the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) in Saudi Arabia, Wade said.

In September, Prince Saud bin Nayef Al Saud launched Oxford Saudia in Dammam, a CAE Authorized Training Centre.

As a global leader in training, CAE trains more than 220,000 crewmembers a year, including 1,500 cadets.

The authorized training center in Dammam is funded by the Saudi National Company of Aviation and has the resources and expertise to train up to 400 cadet pilots annually.