The Commercial Airline Pilot Training (CAPT) Program is welcoming a new class of students sponsored by Air Astana in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The students will begin their studies at the Palm Coast, Florida, campus. The first 8 airline-sponsored students will arrive at the school in December 2008.

At a November 19th press conference in Almaty, Shawn Raker, Chairman of CAPT, spoke of the incoming students, "It is an incredible honor that CAPT has been chosen to provide the training for Air Astana's future pilots. Our 12-14 month program will train these students to the highest standards of the commercial airline industry. Our full-immersion program is modeled after the crew concepts that airlines use in their protocols. The students will be prepared to perform safely and excel when they return to Air Astana."

Air Astana recognized the need to find flight training solutions and carefully selected CAPT as their training partner. Peter Foster, Air Astana JSC President said, "By 2012, Air Astana needs to recruit 300 pilots, and further, the number of pilots will continue to grow in geometric progression. In order to remedy this situation, Air Astana airlines decided to train its own pilots in the framework of an ab-initio program." The choice of CAPT exemplifies the standard of excellence that Air Astana seeks to maintain in this competitive, global industry. 

In addition to flight training, Air Astana is working with CAPT and sister company, Jackson Group Consultants, to determine the feasibility of constructing a new CAPT campus in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

FMI: http://www.captprogram.org, www.flighttrainingservices.com