Hong Kong, September 4, 2007—“Safety, honor, integrity, leadership, professionalism and profitability are the key characteristics of successful Captains,” said  Brad Thomann, Alteon Training’s Chief Operation Officer in his address at the Asia Pacific Aviation Training Symposium (APATS), held in conjunction with Asian Aerospace 2007 here yesterday.

“Pilots with distinguished careers will tell you that in any flight situation which may arise, the first thought in a Captain’s mind will always be the safety and security of the passengers. The Captain is trained to focus on using the tools and resources available to him/her at that time and prioritize on getting the plane on the ground safely,” said Thomann.

“This discussion of setting high expectations for Captains and the development of training tools for them to achieve their goals is particularly important, given the increasing demand for pilots, maintenance and cabin crew around the world,” Thomann said.

Boeing and Airbus have forecast that the world’s fleet will more than double over the next twenty years which means the world’s airlines will require an additional 25,000 planes by 2025, adding to the 17,000 planes that will already be flying. Those new planes will require more than 18,000 new pilots every year—or 360,000 pilots over the next 20 years.

“It is increasingly important that individual airlines have training available for future Captains which emphasizes operational line training, command leadership and set clear safety and performance expectations for our future Captains.”
 
Thomann’s perspective stems from his personal experience of leading over 2,800 pilots at a major US airline as well as operating the training for that airline for over 6 years. Currently, he leads the operations as well as the development of all training courses at Alteon and ensures that the technology used is kept up-to-date regularly.

Alteon Training is the world’s aviation training partner of choice and the industry leader in providing airline-focused aviation training solutions. The company provides its partners an expanding and integrated services portfolio that includes flight, technical and cabin-crew training.

Alteon is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Boeing Company within Boeing Commercial Airplanes' Commercial Aviation Services group. The training organization supports the world's aviation community operating more than 80 full flight simulators in 20 locations on 6 continents.

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Kelli Whaley – (206) 280-8436; e-mail:  kelli.whaley@alteontraining.com
P.O. BOX 34787, M/C 20-74, SEATTLE, WA.  98124 – 1787

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