MONTREAL, CANADA – CAE announced contracts with airlines in Asia and North America for training centre development, the sale of two full-flight simulators (FFS) and CAE Simfinity™ training devices, with a combined value of approximately C$45 million at list and contract prices.
China Southern Airlines and CAE are expanding their joint venture aviation training centre in Zhuhai, China to include two additional Level D FFSs purchased from CAE– a CAE 5000 Series for the Boeing 737NG and a CAE 3000 Series for the Sikorsky S-76C++ helicopter. This will mark the first CAE 3000 Series civil helicopter full-flight and mission simulator in Asia. With this contract CAE concludes fiscal year 2011 with 29 civil full-flight simulator sales.
CAE has also signed a multi-year agreement with Virgin America to develop and support a new pilot training centre near the airline's home base in San Francisco, USA. As part of this agreement, CAE will install an existing CAE-owned Airbus A320 Level D full-flight simulator (FFS), which will be updated to the latest Airbus configuration.
"This expansion in Zhuhai further strengthens our position in Asia and demonstrates CAE's commitment to provide the highest-quality aviation training solutions for our customers around the globe, including commercial aircraft, business aircraft and civil helicopter operators," said Jeff Roberts, CAE Group President, Civil Simulation Products, Training and Services. "Our tailored, turnkey solution for Virgin America brings together CAE's capabilities in simulation technology, regulatory liaison, facilities design, simulator support, and training centre management in a total package that only CAE can effectively deliver."
China Southern Airlines
"Civil aviation traffic continues to grow rapidly in China and throughout the region. Therefore, it is important that we continue to grow training capacity to meet the increasing demand," said Mr. Tan Wan'geng, President and CEO of China Southern Airlines "Our partnership with CAE has been very successful, and the quality of the pilot training has met all expectations."
Also included in the Zhuhai expansion are CAE Simfinity integrated procedures trainers (IPTs) for the B737NG and S-76C++ and a helicopter CAE Simfinity Virtual Simulator (VSIM). The S-76C++ FFS, IPT and VSIM will enable training for common S-76 variants including S-76A, S-76A++, S-76C+ and S-76C++. The FFSs, IPTs and VSIM will be ready for training in 2012.
Virgin America
"We selected CAE as our partner because of their leadership in training centre management and advanced flight simulation technology," said Bob Weatherly, Senior Vice President of Operations at Virgin America. "They designed a training solution that addresses our unique requirements as a new and growing airline."
The A320 FFS will be ready for training later this year. CAE will also provide training centre operations support for the simulator, including regulatory support and all simulator maintenance and engineering activities.
Virgin America will have access to additional A320 FFSs at other CAE training centres in North America and the Airbus Training Centre in Miami, USA. These training facilities are part of the Airbus-CAE Training Cooperation global network.
CAE will market available simulator time at the new Virgin America San Francisco facility to other A320 operators. This will be the 33rd location in CAE's global training network of professional aviation training centres.
About CAE
CAE is a world leader in providing simulation and modelling technologies and integrated training solutions for the civil aviation industry and defence forces around the globe. With annual revenues exceeding C$1.5 billion, CAE employs more than 7,500 people at more than 100 sites and training locations in more than 20 countries. We have the largest installed base of civil and military full-flight simulators and training devices. Through our global network of 33 civil aviation, military and helicopter training centres, we train more than 80,000 crewmembers yearly. We also offer modelling and simulation software to various market segments, and through CAE's professional services division we assist customers with a wide range of simulation-based needs. www.cae.com.
