CAE signs exclusive 15-year training centre operations agreement with Saudi National Company of Aviation

CAE and the Saudi National Company of Aviation (SNCA) announced today at the 2019 Dubai Air Show the expansion of their training relationship with the signature of an exclusive 15-year training centre operations services agreement and the provision of one Airbus A320 CAE 7000XR full-flight simulator (FFS) and one Airbus A320 CAE 600XR flight training device (FTD).  

In November 2017, SNCA and CAE had previously announced the creation of a CAE authorised training centre. The initial agreement included the sharing of CAE’s expertise and guidance for the establishment of SNCA’s cadet training program including commercial pilot license curriculum and courseware, the training of staff and instructors, as well as safety and quality control systems. Through this new agreement, CAE will now provide training centre operations services to SNCA’s new training centre – OxfordSaudia, a CAE Authorised Training Centre – that will be located in Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. SNCA will open the OxfordSaudia flight training centre by the end of 2020. CAE will also operate and maintain SNCA’s training equipment at the new facility.

"As we move along the journey, we are now ready to bring our pilot training capabilities to the next level with CAE, the world-leader in commercial aviation pilot training," said Captain Larry Wade, Chief Executive Officer, OxfordSaudia. "Since the announcement of the inception of our flight academy, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. We have witnessed tremendous demand for pilot training, stemming beyond Saudi nationals and including an even larger than normal percentage of women than the global average. These are good success indicators of this partnership as we are bringing world-class pilot training capabilities to the region. Our option, of two additional A320 CAE 7000XR devices, is to enable us to address the growing demand for recurrent and new type-rating demands in the industry regionally.’’

"SNCA has poured a lot of professionalism and passion into this new endeavor," said Nick Leontidis, CAE’s Group President, Civil Aviation Training Solutions. " We salute SNCA for enrolling 50 female cadets to its OxfordSaudia flight academy. CAE is strongly committed to increasing female representation in the commercial pilot profession."

SNCA is acquiring an Airbus A320 CAE 600XR flight training device (FTD) and an Airbus A320 CAE 7000XR Series full-flight simulator (FFS) equipped with the innovative CAE Tropos™ 6000XR visual system. The FTD and FFS will be delivered at SNCA’s OxfordSaudia training facility in the second half of 2020.