|
This month, the DFS Academy in Germany will
commence training tower controllers for the British market.
The controllers will be the first ever to
directly receive their air traffic controller licence from the UK supervisory
authority following training undertaken in a foreign country.
DFS is entering new territory in conducting
the training of air traffic controllers for Air Navigation Solutions Ltd., its
British subsidiary. Together with the German Federal Supervisory Authority for
Air Navigation Services (BAF) and the British Civil Aviation Authority (CAA),
DFS has designed a training course for UK tower controllers which is approved by
the CAA.
This means that the CAA will issue a student
air traffic controller licence upon the successful completion of the course. The
licence is the prerequisite for unit training that will take place directly at
the control tower at an airport in the UK.
Unit training is the practical, on-the-job
training that air traffic controllers receive at their future workplace. DFS can
now offer its training services directly on the British market because they have
been recognised as equivalent to training courses offered in the UK.
Six students will take part in the first tower
training course that begins on 3 July 2017. Following the institutional training
in Langen, Germany, these students will take up their practical training at
Edinburgh Airport next March. The DFS subsidiary, Air Navigation Solutions Ltd.,
will take over the provision of tower and approach control at this Scottish
airport on 1 April 2018. Also in 2018, three more training courses with six
students each will be held for tower controllers from Gatwick Airport. Air
Navigation Solutions Ltd. has been the air traffic control provider there since
spring 2016. Further courses are being planned for 2018 and beyond. As of 2019,
DFS will offer any open positions on courses not required by Air Navigation
Solutions Ltd. to interested parties.
"The new authorised training courses for the
UK will not only allow DFS to train its own staff for its UK subsidiary. It also
makes us a viable training provider for all British airports," said
Klaus-Dieter Scheurle,
CEO of DFS. "Our goal is to offer training courses on the free market in
addition to our core business. I think our high quality training courses have a
good chance of sparking interest in the UK."
|
