31 students fly high, obtain pilot’s licence

Seven of the graduates now have commercial pilot's licence (CPL), while the rest earned private pilot license (PPL), according to Reji Rajan of the Emirates Flying School.

Rajan said that a majority of the 2004 batch of flying school graduates were males, except for one female graduate. Each graduate was conferred with a plaque and certificate, while a pilot wing was pinned on the graduate's shirt.

The Emirates Flying School was established in 1989 as the first school in the UAE and the GCC to offer two types of certificates, private pilot's licence (PPL) and commercial pilot's licence (CPL), accredited by the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).

Shaikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of the Department of Civil Aviation and Chairman of the Emirates Group, is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Emirates Aviation Services.

There has been an increasing demand for aircraft training in Dubai. The number of graduates of the Emirates Flying School has reached from about 12 in 2000 to 31 in 2004. In 2003, the flight training centre had a total of 21 graduates, said Rajan.