In January 2023, Vietnam Airlines and Viet Flight Training jointly held a Ceremony to receive the Certificate of Approval of establishments eligible for training and professional training of aviation personnel at level 1 (ATO1) to conduct private pilot training courses (PPL) from Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam.Vietnam Airlines and Viet Flight Training also inaugurated a Flight Training Center at Rach Gia airport, the first civil pilot training school in Kien Giang province and the southern region.

At the same event, Viet Flight Training welcomed 12 students of PPL1 Course – the first students of Viet Flight Training, with their planes, will fly into the sky of Kien Giang.

With the reception of ATO1 and the inauguration of the Flight Training Center in Rach Gia, Bay Viet has officially become the first flight school in Vietnam to offer both theory and basic pilot training courses in Vietnam.

Vietnam Airlines and Bay Viet received ATO1 and inaugurated the Flight Training Center at Rach Gia airport

The event also marked a big step in the training of high-tech aviation personnel, not only for Vietnam Airlines but also for the entire aviation industry in Vietnam. ATO1 allows flight training in real aircraft, not just aviation theory training (ATO3) or simulator cockpit training (ATO2). Having the ability to train both theory and practice of basic pilot flight in Vietnam helps to shorten the training time in foreign countries and reduce training costs for trainees.

Since the early days of Viet Flight Training, the ATO1 project has been the most important mission of Viet Flight Training and Vietnam Airlines. Allocating Rach Gia as the base airport in 2017, Viet Flight Training had worked with the Air Defense – Air Force, the Operations Department – the General Staff, and the Vietnam Flight Management Corporation to build construction of airspaces and route systems used for flight training. A contract between Viet Flight Training and Rach Gia Airport allows  Rach Gia Airport to serve as the main flight training base and negotiated with Vietnam Aircraft Leasing Corporation (VALC) to lend aircraft for training. After that, Viet Flight Training completed the airport facilities at Rach Gia Flight Training Center, received 02 modern training aircraft TECNAM P2008 JC 100% new, and at the same time recovered the entire personnel machine, aircraft maintenance and documentation system.

On December 22, 2022, Viet Flight Training was officially granted a certificate of approval by the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam for the training and professional training of aviation personnel of level 1 (ATO1) for 04 flight training courses including (i) Private pilots (PPL); (ii) Air Transport Aircraft Flight Theory (ATPL); (iii) Multi-member flight team coordination (MCC) and (iiii) Multi-member flight team coordination teacher (MCCI).

Viet Flight Training (Viet Flight Training Joint Stock Company) was established by Vietnam Airlines in 2008 under the policy of the Prime Minister with the participation of major shareholders who are leading companies in aviation. The mission of Viet Flight Training is to build a civil pilot training school in Vietnam; ensure the training and provision of 50-60% of the demand for pilot manpower of international standards for Vietnam Airlines as well as aviation industry in Vietnam  therefore helping to reduce the financial burden for airlines and national budgets for training and exploiting civil pilots.

Prior to receiving the ATO1, in 2011 and 2013, Viet Flight Training was approved by Vietnam Aviation Administration as Aviation Training Organization Level 3 – ATO3 (aviation theory training) and Aviation Training Organization Level 2 – ATO2 (simulator cockpit training) for pilot training. In the period of 2011 – 2022, Viet Flight Training has cooperated with foreign partners to train more than 1,000 pilot trainees from 10 different countries and become the largest source of basic civil pilots for the aviation industry in Vietnam.

Nguyen Mai Huong-COMM