Fiji Airways will start saving millions of dollars with the arrival of two full flight simulators next year.

Chief Executive, Andre Viljoen, says this will also reduce the need for expatriate pilots and develop quality skills for our local airline pilots.

“We currently spend many millions of dollars every year sending our pilots all around the world for their six monthly mandatory simulator training and this comes at a very high cost to the airline. It also creates a lot of inefficiency. The setup of this simulator centre will benefit us from improved efficiencies and cost safe but it will enable Fiji airways to accelerate the development of Fijian captains with command qualities standards that we require in the airline.”

Minister for Economy, Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum, says this adds to new economic opportunities and consolidates Fiji’s hub status.

“When they go off there, we actually have to pay money, we stay in their hotels, it cost us a lot of money and there’s alot of foreign exchange but if we are able to have our own people being trained in Fiji that foreign exchange is saved and having other countries sending their people to Fiji, it increases our revenues again and creates employment opportunities.”

Fiji Airways today signed a letter of intent with a Canadian Manufacturer known as a world renowned aviation training provider.