Eight Students From ANA Comprise The First Class

The the first eight student pilots from Japan's All Nippon Airways (ANA) began training to become Boeing 777 pilots at the school in Bremen run by Lufthansa Flight Training GmbH (LFT) on Monday. They will be trained over the coming years on a multi-crew pilot license (MPL) program developed jointly by ANA and LFT. Further ANA student pilots will follow in the the next twelve months. LFT has the most extensive experience in the world when it comes to MPL training - expertise which ANA was able to take advantage of when devising its MPL program.

"We are delighted that ANA has become one of the first airlines in Japan to receive approval from the Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau for its MPL concept and that we are now able to welcome the first of their future 777 pilots to Bremen," said Dirk Kröger, head of the flying school division at Lufthansa Flight Training.

The budding 777 pilots will begin with a short theoretical introduction in Japan. This is followed by six training phases, the first of which teaches theory at the flying school in Bremen. Star Alliance member ANA is thus the first Japanese airline to allow its student pilots to learn theory abroad in English. After six months the students will travel to Phoenix, AZ, where they will complete the first practical flying part of the course at the Airline Training Center Arizona (ATCA), a subsidiary of Lufthansa Flight Training. They will then return to Bremen after about five and a half months for the second theoretical phase, followed by a flying phase of roughly the same length, which will also take place in Bremen. The training finishes with a three-week course of instruction at ANA in Tokyo and testing by the Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau followed by an intermediate and advanced training phase on ANA's 777 fleet.

"It was almost three years ago when ANA and LFT started working for this training and I strongly believe that we made it happen with our determination and strong friendship", says Hideki Imokawa, head of flight operations center at ANA.

The future pilots will be accommodated in the living quarters directly adjacent to the flying school, where, in keeping with Japanese learning culture, the "ANA Lounge" will be at their disposal for lesson preparation and follow-up work.

Both Lufthansa and ANA are members of the global airline network Star Alliance. Since 2011 the two companies have also been working together in the framework of a joint venture. Through the training program for ANA's 777 pilots Lufthansa and ANA are further expanding their successful cooperation.

FMI: www.lufthansa-flight-training.com