Cebu Pacific News Archive

Cebu Pacific and Clark Aviation announce Cadet Pilot Career Program

Cebu Pacific (CEB), the Philippines’ low fare leader and leading domestic carrier, in association with Clark Aviation, has today launched the CEB Cadet Pilot Career Program to train commercial pilots to crew its rapidly increasing fleet of new Airbus jet aircraft.

Under the agreement, CEB will offer financial assistance packages to assist suitable candidates, selected and assessed by Clark Aviation, to undertake an intensive 12-month residential training program. The candidates will be trained as co-pilots who will complete their training as fully qualified and fully type-rated on the Airbus A320 the world’s most popular high performance jet.

Clark Aviation has already taken delivery of its first CAE manufactured A320 flight simulator which is currently being installed ready for training by 31 March 2007. Not only will this be used to train the cadet pilots but will also be available for airlines to carry out their bi-annual recurrent training for their existing pilots. Further flight training devices are scheduled for delivery throughout the year with a second A320 simulator scheduled in the last quarter of 2007.

CEB President and CEO Lance Gokongwei said, “CEB operates one of the youngest Airbus fleets in the world and this agreement allows us to fully support our fleet expansion plans, ensuring that we will have sufficient pilots to fly our new aircraft. We are also very proud to be able to offer young Filipinos the opportunity to embark on a highly rewarding and exciting career. This is good not only for CEB but for our Nation as a whole.”

Asian carriers have been constantly looking for ways to mitigate the acute and growing world-wide pilot shortage. Clark Aviation, part of the Alpha Aviation Group, is the first of a global network of world-class international aviation training centers that will span the globe to address the world-wide pilot shortage crisis. Inaugurated by Her Excellency President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in July 2006, Clark Aviation opened its doors to its first cadet pilots last month.

Mark Pearson, Chairman and CEO of Clark Aviation and CEO of Alpha Aviation Group said “We are delighted to announce this partnership with CEB to support them with their long term fleet plan, which enables them to progress their expansion plans with confidence and also allows them to concentrate on their core business of flying. This also promotes Clark and the Philippines as the leading international aviation training centre in the Asian region.”

Alpha Aviation Group Limited, established as a specialist aviation training and support organization, is creating a global network of world-class international training centres spanning the globe. It is a consortium of three companies, each with their own specialist skills and experience in the aviation training sector; International Aviation Group of Hong Kong, C&C Alpha Group of London and Prescient Systems & Technologies, an associated company of Singapore Technologies Engineering.

Now in its 11th year, CEB has the youngest fleet in the Philippines with a fleet age of less than a year, and one of the youngest in Asia, as it operates 13 brand new Airbus aircraft to its 20 domestic and 7 international destinations. CEB awaits the delivery of one more Airbus aircraft next month to complete its $670 million re-fleeting program.