Flying academy set to expand

MALACCA: The Malaysian Flying Academy is setting up a new RM10mil campus, which is four times bigger than its present premises, under its expansion programme. 

The academy is currently the only one certified to conduct training for commercial pilots in Malaysia, said its principal, group captain (R) M. Kashav. 

“We are acquiring land behind the present premises and building a full campus with aircraft hangars, sufficient aircraft parking space, lecture rooms and a cafeteria,” he told The Star in a phone interview recently. 

The new campus, to be set up at the end of the year, will be able to train 240 to 280 students, compared to the 180 now. 

It will operate from Senai and Batu Pahat due to the saturation of air space. 

“Between 60% and 70% of training will be carried out in Malacca and the rest will be transferred to Senai and Batu Pahat,” said Kashav. 

He said many representatives of international airlines from China, Nepal, Indonesia and Thailand, whom he met during the Shepherds Conference in Bangkok recently, expressed interest in the training programmes. 

Kashav had presented a paper at the conference, held to seek solutions for the problems faced by low-cost carriers. 

“Presently, there are no other academies in the region to train pilots up to professional standards at an affordable cost. 

“Training in foreign countries like Australia can be very costly.”  

The academy is currently training a batch of students from Qantas and Japan. 

“We want to cater to the needs of professional training in flying and become a centre for aviation training in this region,” said Kashav. 

The academy will be bringing in another eight to 10 aircraft and several locally-manufactured Eagle Aircraft for its new campus.