Friday, Nov 16, 2007

Dubai: Emirates has awarded a $8.8 million contract to Spatial Composite Solutions, the Dubai-based manufacturer of crew training equipment for the civil aviation and aero-space industries.

Under the contract, one of the largest-ever awarded for a Cabin Service Trainer (CST) installation, Spatial will design 13 CSTs according to Emirates's specifications for various Airbus and Boeing configurations - including the new Airbus A380 superjumbo; and install these at the new Emirates Aviation Crew Training College in the Garhoud district.

Terry Daly, Emirates' divisional senior vice-president for service delivery, said, "High quality service has become an Emirates trademark, because we invest in high quality training facilities for our crew. We are delighted to partner with Spatial Composite Solutions in developing the latest Cabin Service Trainers.

"These are state-of-the-art and will provide our growing team of cabin staff with the best environment in which to hone their service skills. We look forward to receiving our brand new CSTs, including our first A380 CST, in the next few months."

The CST designs have been completed, manufacturing is currently under way, and installation has begun. This includes Emirates' first A380 CST which is scheduled to be complete in time for training operations to commence in early 2008.

New landing gear

In another development, the Emirates Engineering Training Centre received a 2.5-tonne, 3.37-metre high landing gear from Messier Services, a landing systems MRO specialist and member of the Safran Group.

The landing gear, part of an Airbus A340-300 aircraft, will be used in training and development programmes for ab initio cadets, enabling them to familiarise themselves with the mechanisms of the gear during aircraft take-off and landing. It will add to the centre's existing training in avionics, batteries, looms, airframe systems, engines, welding and structures and composites.

At a presentation ceremony held during the Dubai Airshow, Gilles Bouctot, chief executive officer, Messier Services International, handed over the landing gear to Adel Al Redha, executive vice-president, engineering and operations, Emirates.

Also present at the ceremony were nearly 50 ab initio cadets.

Gulf News 2007. All rights reserved.