CAE and Airbus have joined forces to offer Airbus Corporate Jetliner (ACJ) family customers enhanced training courses, beginning in January 2004. The agreement also means that Airbus ACJ courses will be available in North America for the first time. ACJ operators will now have access to training at 10 sites worldwide, including four in the AmericasDenver, Miami, Sao Paulo and Toronto.

This latest collaboration builds on the Airbus-CAE agreement which was announced in August 2002, and which combines Airbus's training expertise and CAE's network of training centers to provide increased global coverage to customers.

The enhanced training for Airbus ACJ customers recognizes the special needs of business-jet operators, who are often run by small teams that typically fly to smaller and more diverse airports than do airlines. It capitalizes on the business-jet training expertise of CAE SimuFlite, CAE's flagship business-aviation training center.

"Our co-operation will allow us to offer Airbus ACJ family customers a complete training solution, including classroom and flight simulator training, at a wide range of convenient locations," says Jeff Roberts, CAE's executive vice-president of aviation training. "The enhanced Airbus ACJ family training courses will ensure that customers benefit from innovation as well as the combined strengths of Airbus and CAE."

"Our goal is to help customers to get the best out of our aircraft, by providing training that encourages and ensures efficient, as well as safe operations," says Jean-Michel Roy, Airbus vice-president, training. "Our partnership with CAE will help us to better meet this goal, at more training center around the world, while maintaining the highest Airbus standards."

The Airbus-CAE cooperation offers a global network of 10 training centers. With 23 full-flight simulators, the cooperation operates the largest fleet of Airbus full-flight simulators in the world.

FMI: www.cae.com