As part of its recovery and growth plan, Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific has signed a new long-term agreement with one of the US's most prominent global flight training academies, AeroGuard Flight Training Center. The collaboration will see Cathay Pacific send several hundred new pilots to the US annually for training.Celebrating the new partnership between a respected airline and a renowned flight school was Joel Davidson, Chief Executive Officer of AeroGuard, as he highlighted:

"AeroGuard is extremely proud to announce this partnership with Cathay Pacific, one of the most respected airlines in the world, known for their high quality and professional standards. As the aviation industry rebounds globally following the pandemic, AeroGuard plans to train hundreds of future pilots for Cathay Pacific."

AeroGuard has training programs for everyone

The pilot training will occur at the Deer Valley Airport Flight School in Phoenix, Arizona. Over there, AeroGuard will support Cathay Pacific with two different types of career-focused flight training programs, one for those joining the flag carrier with no prior flight experience and another for licensed pilots looking to convert their credentials to the Hong Kong standard.

However, before flying out to Phoenix, the student pilots will complete ground school classes at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. After that, it's plenty of flight training with AeroGuard, as the student pilots will fly using the academy's fleet of Piper Archers and Piper Seminoles. They will also gain experience and be prepared through unlimited access to two RedBird Simulator devices for varied methods of practice and mastery.

To further maximize their skills as an aviator, the student pilots are also exposed to a mix of controlled, primarily Class B-E, and uncontrolled airspace, such as Class G. And not forgetting the runways, as the flight school in Phoenix offers access to parallel runways for maximum arrival and departure efficiency and a wide variety of over 150 instrument approaches and procedures surrounding the airport.

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Filling up the pipeline for Cathay Pacific

Once the student pilots have graduated from their training with AeroGuard, they will return to Hong Kong and back to Cathay Pacific for their line training, after which they will be awarded their wings and begin operational deployments. Although flight training at AeroGuard's Phoenix campus is possible for more than 350 days a year, these new Cathay Pacific flight training programs are expected only to take the student pilots approximately 10 months to complete.

Despite the quick timeframe to becoming a licensed pilot, these programs do not compromise on safety while still helping to fill the airline's pilot staffing needs. Cathay Pacific plans to train over 1,000 cadet pilots by 2025 and wants to increase capacity yearly to meet the growing travel demand expected within Asia. The airline's General Manager for Flying, Tim Burns, emphasized:

"We're incredibly excited to partner with AeroGuard to provide our cadet pilots with the opportunity to learn and gain valuable flight experience at such a premier flight training school. This partnership with AeroGuard will help us maintain a strong pipeline of talent that will enable us to continue to provide the exemplary standards of service and operational excellence that underpin the Cathay Pacific brand."

In fact, Cathay Pacific's first batch of student pilots completed their ground school training in Hong Kong earlier this month and just recently started their training at AeroGuard. Additional classes will be planned throughout 2023 and beyond, and the flag carrier will continue opening up recruitment drives to attract more cadet pilots.

Bottom line

With a proven history of over one million flight hours of training experience and graduating over 7,000 cadets, AeroGuard seems to be the ideal partner for Cathay Pacific. It would also be quite a memorable training journey for the student pilots to gradually hone their flying skills in Phoenix. Hopefully, the flag carrier will be able to ramp up its capacity in line with the filling of its pilot staffing pipeline so that these new cadets will eventually have plenty of destinations to fly to after earning their wings.

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  Cathay Pacific

  IATA/ICAO Code:

  CX/CPA

  Airline Type:

  Full Service Carrier

  Hub(s):

  Hong Kong International Airport

  Year Founded:

  1946

  Alliance:

  oneworld

  CEO:

  Ronald Lam

  Country:

  China (Special Administrative Region)

  Region:

  Asia