Business booming for IFTC

As well as training pilots for Turkish airlines, IFTC also operates in conjunction with a number of external type rating training organisations (TRTOs) from as far afield as northern, central and south eastern Europe.

Indeed, Europe’s largest flight training school, Holland’s Stella Aviation Academy, has recently formed a JV with IFTC to train pilots straight from university with no previous flying experience. There will be guaranteed jobs after two years’ training with Turkey’s SunExpress charter airline, which operates a fleet of around 20 Boeing 737NG airliners in Europe.

And, in case you’re wondering where students can gain actual flight-deck experience on Airbus aircraft, enter Turkey’s Freebird Airlines, which has a fleet of eminently suitable Airbus A320 (x6) and A321 (x2) narrow-bodies. The Gözen Group also owns this airline !

IFTC’s commercial co-ordinator, Saliha Yüksel, said the company operates primarily with Turkish-based operators, although it is also building a solid business relationship with airlines (both scheduled and charter) in Eurasia and south eastern Europe. In the future, it is looking to expand its training activities in the Balkans, India, Russia/CIS, North Africa and the Middle East.

She continued: “The spacious facilities also offer fully convertible classrooms adaptable for class size and also for flight deck and cabin training sessions. As well as the full simulators, we also offer a range of virtual touch-panel training devices that allow students to view and operate all panels, controls, indicators and displays found on a modern flight deck. They also allow real-time interaction with every aircraft system in a structured training environment or in complete free-play mode.

“Both captain and first officer can work together in an integrated crew environment familiarising themselves with procedures and systems training in both B737NG and A320 aircraft types before entering a full flight simulator."