Commenting on the initiative, Capt. Themiya Abeywickrama, Chief Pilot Training and Standards, Mihin Lanka stated, “Today most of the airlines in the Indian subcontinent are struggling to meet the demand for well-trained first officers.  Therefore, we decided to use our resources to train pilots regardless of their nationality without making changes to our own local pilot training programmes. Most of the candidates who seek our training have already been offered employment with airlines in their respective countries. Due to the significant growth in the industry, combined with the shortage of qualified and experienced instructors, most of these airlines find it difficult to conduct in-house training for their first officers.
 

"The training will be conducted at Sri Lankan Airlines’ simulator training facility and pilots who are selected will receive additional line training. They will also have the opportunity to work closely with and learn from Mihin Lanka’s most senior flight instructors.”
 

Also commenting on the new initiative, Capt. Pujitha Jayakody, Director Flight Operations, Mihin Lanka said, “As one of the leading low-cost carriers in the region, Mihin Lanka has introduced this international training programme to meet an important need of our time.  We are proud to say that many of the pilots we have trained, have been employed by a variety of leading international carriers including Etihad, Air Arabia in the Middle East, SriLankan Airlines, Singapore based Tiger Airways, VietJet  Air and Vietnam Airlines."

Also commenting on the new training programme for international pilots, Nishantha Ranatunga, Chairman / CEO, Mihin Lanka stated, “I am very pleased to see how our operations team is helping to further build the image and reputation of Mihin Lanka in the region. These innovative training programmes also help us to meet our financial targets. The high standards maintained by the Civil Aviation Authorities are remarkable and renowned throughout the region. Many leading airlines with bigger fleets have entrusted us with the training of their pilots, showing that they have complete confidence in our world-class training capabilities.”

Mihin Lanka is a leading low-cost airline in South Asia that operates across many destinations in the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and South East Asia. (SDF/KH)