OREANDA-NEWS. August 26, 2010. Air Astana, the national air carrier of Kazakhstan, and Pilot Training College have agreed to extend the existing contract to undertake initial pilot training program (Ab-initio). Pilot Training College (PTC), one of Europe’s leading pilot training providers, with bases in Waterford, Ireland and Florida, USA, will train up to 60 new cadets annually for Air Astana.

This agreement is another major step for Civil Aviation in Kazakhstan, allowing it to increase the pool of local pilots that were previously in short supply. It also ensures that Air Astana will be able to meet the demand for extra aircrew as the fleet grows to 50 aircraft by 2022. According to forecasts, Air Astana will need to hire 300 qualified pilots by 2012, and each year the need for flight personnel will continue to grow dramatically. As a result, Air Astana has initiated one of the largest airline pilot training projects in the CIS.

Candidate selection is open to all Kazakh citizens age 18 to 29, who are interested in becoming a pilot. Candidates need to demonstrate to a good knowledge of physics & mathematics, as well as an excellent health record.

The first group of eight cadets recently graduated from PTC and have taken up positions as co-pilots undertaking line training at Air Astana. There are currently 30 cadets at the PTC in Florida, including a female cadet - Polina Pavlova.

“I’ve spent more than twenty years in the airline industry, with safety and the quality pilot training being my highest priorities throughout that time,” said Peter Foster, President of Air Astana. “We’ve put PTC through an extraordinarily rigorous examination, looking at every aspect of the training the cadets receive. We are building a world-class airline at Air Astana and we want world-class pilots to match. That’s what PTC delivers and that’s why we are delighted to extend our contract with them.”

Mike Edgeworth, Executive Chairman of PTC comments of who held “This is another milestone in our aim of becoming one of the leading global providers of airline pilots. Airline partners like Air Astana are choosing PTC for a host of reasons, including state of the art training facilities, access to a fleet of over 40 modern aircraft and the very latest in avionics. Experienced instructors are focused on delivering training excellence to international airline standards, with our philosophy centred on training our students to be ‘airline’ ready through focus, professionalism and attention to detail.”

Another advantage of the Pilot Training College is the location of its training centres. PTC Waterford gives trainee pilots ‘four seasons in one day’ and is perfect for instrument training, whilst the Florida Training Centre gives PTC students the broadest flying education possible with over 300 days of near perfect visual flight rules conditions.

Together with the new contract, Air Astana also announced that PTC has been chosen to manage all future assessment and selection of new ab-initio cadets on the airline’s behalf.