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The Gulf Aviation Academy (GAA) is based in the Kingdom of Bahrain. It was launched in 2009, but officially inaugurated in 2010 during the first Bahrain International Airshow. GAA provides pilot training, cabin crew training and engineering training and serves Bahrain and the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region. The academy is approved by not just Bahrain civil aviation authority, but also Kuwait, Qatar, Emirates, Saudi, Oman and also Jordan and Pakistan civil aviation. “This makes us one of the few independent aviation training centres in the region, we are not related to any airline. So many of the biggest airlines in the world like Qatar Airways, Emirates, all train with us, apart from Oman Air, Saudi Airlines, Kuwait Airways and others. They would not go and train with an academy that is owned by another airline. This is a very big advantage that we have. As we are not airline owned we can attract everybody. Our faculty is the best in the field who go through a rigorous selection process,” says Capt Dhaffer Al Abbasi, acting CEO, Gulf Aviation Academy. GAA is the only independent Type Rating Training Organisation (TRTO) approved by the UK Civil Aviation Authority in MENA region.
The academy offers more than 50 courses. Simulator training is the main line of business for GAA, which offers simulator and pilot training for 34 airlines. The academy has seven simulator bays and can train thousands of students every year. Based in Muharraq, near Bahrain International Airport, the location is considered another advantage as the crew arrives at the airport and reach the training centre in five minutes. The pilots stay at the nearby Movenpick hotel or other hotels near the airport. “We offer solutions from A to Z, that is we create a training plan for them, arrange for their visa, their hotel bookings, all the logistics are taken care of. We even arrange for their transportation from the hotel to the academy – this type of facility is not provided by others aviation academies,” mentions Capt Abbasi.
Since inception GAA has trained as many as 19,000 flight crews – in less than five years. “We have return clients and new clients. We plan to be one of the largest academies in the Middle East. We like to think of ourselves as the one-stop shop for airlines and charter operators,” points out Capt Abbasi. From India a few pilots had attended MCC training, that is multi-crew cooperation training. “It is an eight -day course with five simulator sessions of four hours each. Three days extra is ground school where they are trained on how to work together in multi-crew concept aircraft. We are in talks with certain airlines in India though not the major airlines as they already own their own training centres,” he says.
GAA’s Ab-Initio Pilot Programme is for aspiring Bahraini cadet pilots. “We do not have a flight school in Bahrain so we have agreement with flying schools in the UK, Australia, where we send our students. Once they graduate we help them find jobs in the region,” adds Capt Abbasi. According to a Boeing report there is requirement of at least 100,000 crew in the aviation sector – around 36,000 pilots and 53,000 technicians and engineers in the Middle East by 2030. “To be able to meet those numbers we need to start planning from now. We need to attract more Bahraini youngsters in the region to enter the field,” he states.
A regional training partner and authorised training centre for IATA, GAA also offers courses in airport operations, dangerous goods training, safety management, emergency planning and response management, etc.
