Patria and Kazakhstan's Civil Aviation Academy enter pilot training cooperation

The Kazakhstan Civil Aviation Academy and Patria Pilot Training have signed a Memorandum of Understanding regarding professional pilot training cooperation between the parties in conjunction with the state visit of the President of Finland, Sauli Niinistö to Kazakhstan in 16 - 18 April, 2013. The visit is hosted by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev and is a continuation to a series of high level visits between the countries during the last few months, with an emphasis on education and training.

 Patria and The Kazakhstan Civil Aviation Academy have as a result of the previous visits entered into discussions regarding pilot training services with an aim to initiate pilot training in Helsinki, Finland possibly even during this year.
        
"The signing of the MoU is of great importance to Patria´s intentions to expand pilot training services. Kazakhstan will be the first country in Central Asia for Patria to cooperate with and we are excited about this opportunity to get to work together with the Civil Aviation Academy in this important project", says Patria´s President and CEO, Heikki Allonen. The MoU was signed by Mr Allonen and Rector of KAA, Mukhtar Baizhumanov.

While planning of the pilot training cooperation continues, other avenues of cooperation are also being identified. These include training of flight instructors for the Academy and a possibility to set up a local training center in Kazakhstan.

Patria Pilot Training is a leading European flight training organisation operating under the European Joint Aviation Authority and having trained hundreds of professional pilots since its formation in 1998. The students also include Russian Cadet Pilots for the St Petersburg State University of Civil Aviation who graduated with excellent results. Patria is also one of the few flight training organisations to provide modern Multi-Crew Pilot License (MPL) training on top of other tailor-made training solutions for Patria´s corporate customers.

Patria Pilot Training operates a very modern fleet of training aircraft and flight training devices with concentration on high quality of training whereas the parent company Patria Group is a trusted provider of defence, security and aviation life-cycle support services, pilot training services and technology solutions. Patria’s shareholders are the state of Finland (73.2%) and the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS N.V.) (26.8 %).

Further information

Jukka Holkeri, Chief Strategy Officer, Patria, phone +358 40 869 2008, [email protected]
www.patria.fi