China Southern Airlines announced the establishment of China Southern (Nanyang) Flight Training Base, the first such Chinese flight training centre in the country with its own flight training aircraft, airport facility and management organisation.
The first aircraft introduced to the training base is a B737-300, a new plane in operation with China Southern. The training base is located at Nanyang Airport, China Southern’s fully-owned and managed airport facility, located in China’s Central Plains the airport boasts more than 300 days in a year available for flight.
China Southern said it will, starting from this year, invest RMB510 million (US$79 million) in phases to upgrade facilities at the airport. The carrier will also shift in three larger, but unspecifi ed, aircraft into the training base for training China Southern’s pilots.
After all the upgrading is completed, Nanyang Flight Training Base will provide China Southern’s pilots base, upgrade and transition training on all aircraft types smaller than the B777 which are operated by the carrier.