Kingfisher Airlines India's fastest growing airline and the first Indian carrier to offer Full Service at True Value today in a contract valued at over $24 million signed Thales UK for the supply of three new Full Flight Simulators (FFS).
Thales UK will be providing two A320 Full Flight Simulators and one ATR Full Flight Simulator. The contract also includes provision of a Thales A320 maintenance/flight training device (MFTD) and a turnkey maintenance support package.
All the equipment to be supplied will be from the Thales Formation family, a product range that covers all civil aviation crew training from desktop to FFS. Formation provides customers with a suite of products based on the same PC/Windows NT real time architecture allowing for effective training syllabi across multiple devises.
Dr Vijay Mallya, Chairman & CEO, Kingfisher Airlines, said:
Kingfisher Airlines is the fastest growing airline in India and I have personally ensured that every Kingfisher Airlines aircraft meets the international standards in terms of safety. I am proud of our brand new fleet incorporating the latest technology available. The addition to our stringent crew training regime provided by Thales equipment, which I am personally convinced is the best available, is our way of ensuring our commitment to customer safety.
Justin Walker, Managing Director of the Thales UK services business, said:
With the growth of Kingfisher Airlines and aviation in the Indian subcontinent in general, we are particularly proud to have been selected by such a discerning customer in a highly competitive market.
Kingfisher Airlines currently operates a fleet of 14 brand new aircraft from the Airbus family and ATR and connects 17 key business and leisure destinations with 86 flights daily across India. Kingfisher Airlines is the first Indian carrier to have placed an order for five Airbus A380s, five A350s, five A340s and five A330s. The deliveries of A330s are expected to begin in 2007, of A340s in 2008 while the A380s and A350s arrive in 2010 and 2012 respectively.