OREANDA-NEWS. July 03, 2012. Ural Airlines has started operating a new flight simulator for training pilots for the Airbus 320 family aircraft. With the new training facility the company can provide training to its operating personnel based on individual programs in order to improve professional skills of the pilots and the safety of each flight. Deputy Head of the Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviation) Oleg Storchevoy, Deputy Plenipotentiary Representative of the RF President in the Ural Federal District Alexander Sidorov, and the Head of the Administration of the Governor of the Sverdlovsk Oblast Yakov Silin participated in the opening ceremony of the new training center.

"We understand that the most important concern of any air carrier is the training of its pilots. Therefore the money invested in this facility represent the right and fully justified investment even in the current difficult economic situation", - said the CEO of the Airline Sergey Skuratov during the opening ceremony.

The state-of-the-art flight simulator was purchased by the airline in the Netherlands. It was made to order for the Ural Airlines by one of the major global manufacturers - Sim Industries, which recently became a member of Lockheed Martin Group. The cost of equipment was Euro 7.5 million. It should be noted that the training center of the Ural Airlines is the first of its kind in Russia. It meets the highest international standards and has Level-D certificate (which means that it can be used for pilot training without the use of the actual aircraft). The flight simulator model corresponds to the aircraft of Airbus A320 series. The equipment has all the required certificates of both international and Russian aviation authorities and can be operated without any additional upgrades for the period of 15 years. This type of flight simulators is used for pilot training by the leading global airlines: Emirates, Air France, Lufthansa, etc.