Three new full flight simulators destined for Turkish Airlines

Turkish Airlines will add three additional full flight simulators at its Flight Training Center in Istanbul Ataturk, which “includes one Airbus A320, one Boeing 777-300ER and one 737NG simulator,” CEO Temel Kotil recently stated.

He said Turkish already has seven simulators and continues to hire about five to week foreign captains every week. “Because we have so many additional aircraft coming to the fleet, we need them. Currently, we have 400 expatriates in the cockpit,” he said, adding that only experienced captains can join Turkish to cover the demand, because first officers will be permanently recruited in Turkey.

Turkish recently signed a contract with Pilot Training Network GmbH, a subsidiary of Lufthansa Flight Training GmbH, to train 100 young pilot cadets. In addition to 15 months of basic training, the package includes a type rating on the Airbus A320 or Boeing 737NG. This will take a further two months and will be conducted by Lufthansa Flight Training. The first training course will start this month.

(Kurt Hofmann - ATWOnline News)