A flight school in the Canadian province of New Brunswick says it will train up to 900 pilots for China Southern Airlines over the next five years. Officials of Moncton Flight College, of Moncton, N.B., say they expect to sign the $70 million deal in the next few days. The deal is the result of more than five years of inspections, negotiations and renovations (the college did a $6 million CAD expansion). “This is part of a very large growth and expansion program over the next five to ten years,” Mike Doiron, the school’s principal, told the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal. “It’s really going to place New Brunswick as a key player in the flight training market.” There simply isn’t enough capacity in Chinese flight schools to meet the explosive need for pilots. “There’s an absolutely huge demand in China for pilots,” said Mike Tilley, of CANLink Global, a trading company that helped arrange the deal. He said China needs 1,200 new pilots a year and there are more than 50 airports under construction. “It’s opened the door for us to be as aggressive that we’d like in our business development.”
Chinese Pilots Train In Canada
Key Takeaways:
- Moncton Flight College in New Brunswick has secured a $70 million deal to train up to 900 pilots for China Southern Airlines over the next five years.
- This agreement follows five years of preparations, including a $6 million CAD expansion by the college, and is expected to position New Brunswick as a key player in the global flight training market.
- The deal addresses the significant pilot shortage in China, where domestic flight schools lack the capacity to meet the "absolutely huge demand" driven by rapid airport construction and airline growth.
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