Emirates, the world’s biggest operator of the Airbus A380 jet, will soon build an advanced training centre for pilots as it ramps up operations to meet strong air travel demand.
The centre will accommodate six full-flight simulator bays for its future Airbus A350 and Boeing 777X aircraft, the airline said on Monday.
The 5,882-square-metre training unit is expected to open in March 2024.
“This $135 million investment to build a new pilot training centre will ensure Emirates’ readiness to commence its pilot training ahead of the delivery of its new aircraft fleet starting from 2024,” said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed, chairman and chief executive of Emirates airline and Group.
“The building will be equipped with the latest, technologically advanced simulators to provide the best training for pilots, while using solar power to reduce energy consumption.”
Air travel demand has beaten expectations, driving the airline's plans to hire additional pilots and cabin crew, return more Airbus A380s into service and rebuild its network to pre-pandemic levels, Emirates' chief operating officer Adel Al Redha said on the sidelines of the Bahrain International Airshow in November.
The airline intends to hire an additional 400 pilots and 5,000 to 6,000 cabin crew by the middle of 2023, recruiting to the maximum capacity of its training centres, he said at the time.
This will increases its current workforce of 4,500 pilots and 17,500 cabin crew.
The airline’s capacity has recovered to 80 per cent of its pre-pandemic levels while its vast network has returned to 95 per cent of its pre-crisis size after international borders reopened and coronavirus-related restrictions eased.
In terms of capacity, it currently operates a fleet of 120 Boeing 777 aircraft and 78 of its 116 Airbus A380s, said Mr Al Redha.
It plans to return its full fleet of superjumbos into service by the end of 2023.
The new training unit will be adjacent to the existing Emirates training complex in Dubai, which will help trainees to integrate with other centres, the airline said.
Trainees can set up and configure the cockpit environment as part of the pilot-training module and upload the data to the full-flight simulator, it said.
“This concept is designed to shorten the trainee’s preparatory time inside the simulator, help them maintain focus and take full advantage of the training duration,” Emirates said.
With the addition of the new building to the airline's existing training colleges in Dubai, Emirates will have the potential to expand its pilot-training capacity by 54 per cent a year.
Across the airline’s training buildings, pilots can use 17 full-flight simulator bays offering a capacity of more than 130,000 training hours a year.
In line with the scheduled delivery of Emirates’ first Airbus A350 aircraft, the airline’s newest training college will commence training its first batch of A350 pilots by June 2024.
Besides training centres for its flight deck crew, the airline said it offers a range of career development programmes for its workforce and for other aviation professionals.
In Dubai, these include the Emirates Flight Training Academy for cadets, Emirates Aviation University, Emirates Cabin Crew Training Centre and many programmes specially created for different segments of its employees, it said.
Emirates placed an order for 50 Airbus A350-900 XWB aircraft worth $16 billion at list prices at the Dubai Airshow in 2019. Delivery was scheduled to start in May 2023 and run until 2028.
The long-delayed Boeing 777X, of which the 777-8 and 777-9 are variants, has been in development since 2013 and was expected to be released for airline use in June 2020.
Emirates has a tentative delivery date of July 2025 to receive the first of 777X wide-body jets, with new wings and engines.
Boeing delayed the delivery of its first 777-9 jet, a variant of its new 777X aircraft, by another year and deliveries are now expected to start in 2025.
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Know your camel milk:
Flavour: Similar to goat’s milk, although less pungent. Vaguely sweet with a subtle, salty aftertaste.
Texture: Smooth and creamy, with a slightly thinner consistency than cow’s milk.
Use it: In your morning coffee, to add flavour to homemade ice cream and milk-heavy desserts, smoothies, spiced camel-milk hot chocolate.
Goes well with: chocolate and caramel, saffron, cardamom and cloves. Also works well with honey and dates.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
In The Heights
Directed by: Jon M. Chu
Stars: Anthony Ramos, Lin-Manual Miranda
Rating: ****
The Birkin bag is made by Hermès.
It is named after actress and singer Jane Birkin
Noone from Hermès will go on record to say how much a new Birkin costs, how long one would have to wait to get one, and how many bags are actually made each year.
UAE jiu-jitsu squad
Men: Hamad Nawad and Khalid Al Balushi (56kg), Omar Al Fadhli and Saeed Al Mazroui (62kg), Taleb Al Kirbi and Humaid Al Kaabi (69kg), Mohammed Al Qubaisi and Saud Al Hammadi (70kg), Khalfan Belhol and Mohammad Haitham Radhi (85kg), Faisal Al Ketbi and Zayed Al Kaabi (94kg)
Women: Wadima Al Yafei and Mahra Al Hanaei (49kg), Bashayer Al Matrooshi and Hessa Al Shamsi (62kg)
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Zayed Sustainability Prize
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
'Skin'
Dir: Guy Nattiv
Starring: Jamie Bell, Danielle McDonald, Bill Camp, Vera Farmiga
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
'Munich: The Edge of War'
Director: Christian Schwochow
Starring: George MacKay, Jannis Niewohner, Jeremy Irons
Rating: 3/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
Scorecard
Scotland 220
K Coetzer 95, J Siddique 3-49, R Mustafa 3-35
UAE 224-3 in 43,5 overs
C Suri 67, B Hameed 63 not out
Infobox
Western Region Asia Cup Qualifier, Al Amerat, Oman
The two finalists advance to the next stage of qualifying, in Malaysia in August
Results
UAE beat Iran by 10 wickets
Kuwait beat Saudi Arabia by eight wickets
Oman beat Bahrain by nine wickets
Qatar beat Maldives by 106 runs
Monday fixtures
UAE v Kuwait, Iran v Saudi Arabia, Oman v Qatar, Maldives v Bahrain
The view from The National
Jewel of the Expo 2020
252 projectors installed on Al Wasl dome
13.6km of steel used in the structure that makes it equal in length to 16 Burj Khalifas
550 tonnes of moulded steel were raised last year to cap the dome
724,000 cubic metres is the space it encloses
Stands taller than the leaning tower of Pisa
Steel trellis dome is one of the largest single structures on site
The size of 16 tennis courts and weighs as much as 500 elephants
Al Wasl means connection in Arabic
World’s largest 360-degree projection surface
Mountain%20Boy
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
MATCH INFO
Fixture: Ukraine v Portugal, Monday, 10.45pm (UAE)
TV: BeIN Sports
