Gulf Aviation Academy (GAA), a wholly owned subsidiary of Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company, was launched at the Bahrain International Airshow (BIAS) 2010.

'We are very proud of launching the first aviation academy in Bahrain, particularly at the inaugural Bahrain International Airshow,' Mumtalakat chief executive officer Talal Alzain said.

The concept of creating the first aviation academy in Bahrain comes as part of His Majesty's vision for the future of aviation training in the kingdom and it will play a vital role in increasing the aviation industry's presence in the region.'

'Today marks a new day for aviation in Bahrain. As the kingdom's first aviation academy, GAA will play a key role in the development of Bahrain's air transport infrastructure, helping to make the kingdom a recognised hub for aviation services.

'Our service excellence and unique offerings built around the individual needs of our clients will benefit the growing commercial airline industry here in Bahrain, as well as airlines from around the region,' said Alzain.

As a fully owned subsidiary of Mumtalakat, the investment arm of the kingdom, GAA has robust credentials and solid financial backing. GAA's training facilities, developed to cater to regional and international commercial airline clients, include state-of-the-art equipment and the latest simulator technology.

The facility itself has over 30 classrooms, a service trainer (ST) for training cabin crew about in-flight passenger service, and an A320, A330 and A340 aircraft emergency evacuation trainer (EET) for training all flight crew in safety and evacuation procedures.

Since its inception in July last year, the academy has been busy training a substantial number of pilots, engineers and cabin crew. GAA has also undertaken its new pilot training course, called the Ab-Initio programme. This programme aims to train select Bahraini candidates as internationally qualified commercial pilots.

Alzain also said: 'Mid-2009, we initiated the Ab-Initio programme, a fully integrated training programme for Bahraini pilot cadets who are training for an Airline Transport Pilot's Licence (ATPL). The first class of 20 cadets is currently training at our partner school, the Oxford Aviation Academy in the UK.'

GAA offers more than 20 professional courses run by an extensive internationally qualified training staff. Pilot training includes Ab-Initio; direct entry; cross conversion qualifications on the A320, A330 and A340; and recurrent training. engineering courses include A320, A330 and A340 EASA 147 approved type training courses; human factor courses; CFM-56; boroscope; induction training on A320, A330 and A340; and train the trainer courses.

Airline cabin crew can take advantage of courses including initial training; cabin manager assessment; business class, cabin senior and first class assessments; update to cabin manager or first class; conversion courses on A320, A330 and A340; and annual recurrent training.

The GAA has signed a $30 million facility agreement with Bahrain Islamic Bank (BisB) to assist with the funding of two new flight-simulators.

SIM 900 is set over a five year period and will be used by GAA to purchase simulators which will better service the needs of GAA's clients in terms of pilot training.

The purchase agreement for the first simulator was signed earlier between GAA and Embraer, which will deliver the simulator within the next 14 months.

The second simulator is worth approximately $16 million and will be purchased at a later date.-TradeArabia News Service