 | | Rex Cadets at CATA well prepared for day one of class |
Australia’s largest independent regional airline, Regional Express (Rex), today is pleased to announce its historic first intake of Rex Pilot Cadets commenced training at the Civil Aviation Training Academy (CATA) on 10 December.
CATA, the result of a Joint Venture between Rex and Mangalore Airport Pty Limited (MAPL) is situated at Mangalore Airport, Victoria, one and a half hours from Melbourne CBD. Under the intensive live-in training program provided at the brand new Academy, the initial 17 students are expected to graduate with a Commercial Pilot Licence, a Multi Engine Rating and a Command Instrument Rating within 32 weeks. Upon successful completion of the training, the cadets will go through a further three months of intensive ground school, simulator and line training with Rex before taking up the appointment of a First Officer with the Company.
The students taking part in the inaugural cadet course were selected from almost 1,000 applicants. The group comprises cadets from NSW, ACT and QLD, including students from the regional towns of Orange, Hay, Ivanhoe and Cessnock. This group is expected to be followed in three months by a second group of 20 cadets. The Academy intends to accept up to 80 pilots in the first year with plans to grow the intake to 350 a year by the third or fourth year of operations. It is intended that CATA will be the premier institute for training professional pilots in Australia.
The first few intakes of students at CATA will be reserved for the cadets recruited under the Rex Pilot Cadet scheme announced earlier, an initiative that will enable Rex a guaranteed supply of highly trained pilots entering its ranks, helping to ensure sufficient pilot numbers for both current needs and future growth. After this the Academy will accept private students as well as those sent from other airlines both locally and internationally.
Rex is Australia’s largest independent Regional Airline, operating a fleet of 36 Saab 340 aircraft on 1,300 flights weekly to 25 destinations from Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. The Rex group comprises Regional Express, air freight and charter operator Pel-Air Aviation, and Dubbo based regional airline Air Link.
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