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Ethiopia: Private Airline and Pilot School Established by Former Captain

Mulatu Lemlemayehu, a former captain of Ethiopian Airlines and owner of Dreamliner Hotel, is setting up a pilot training school as well as a new airline at the cost of 57 Million Birr. The airline has been dubbed East African Aviation.

It was a year ago the veteran pilot Multau started discussing this business idea with his former colleagues before retiring last August.

On the other hand, eight years ago he founded an investment company called M.T.D.N and built Dreamliner Hotel in the capital of Ethiopia.

Both the new private airline as well as the piloting school are under the ownership of M.T.D.N. According to the general manager of East African Aviation, Captain Lemma Tekalign, the company has been undertaking feasibility study and paperwork for the past one year.

The general manager disclosed East African Aviation has submitted its application to the Ethiopian Civil Aviation Authority (ECCA). “They evaluated our application swiftly and approved the documents. To give us the Air Operator Certificate (AOC) and license for the pilot training school they are waiting for the arrival of the aircraft that we bought,” Captain Lemma explained.

The airline is going to render chattered flight services as well as VIP flights. In addition to these it will also give for international organizations, tourists, construction firms and mining companies. Medical evacuation service, a.k.a. air ambulance services, will also be offered by the company.

Aero club service is also part of the services to be rendered by the airlines.

On the other hand the piloting school is expected to offer Private Pilot License (PPL) and Commercial Pilot License (CPL). Candidates for the earlier program will take them only four months to graduate from the program while candidates for the CPL program will need 14 months to earn their license.

The School has dormitories and a canteen which can accommodate 24 cadets at a time. It also has auditoriums, briefing rooms and a library.

Theoretical parts of the study are going to be given in the school’s compound while for flight lessons students will have to go to Bole International Airport.

The tuition fee for PPL is USD 23,000 while the CPL training costs USD 66,500. “These costs include accommodation, meals, uniforms and other expenses. There is no hidden cost here,” Lemma said.

The general manager furthered; “We will not make money out of the school. We just want to offer an internationally recognized service in Ethiopia. It could be profitable after seven or eight years. The tuition might seem expensive for those who are not in the aviation industry. Fuel cost is cumbersome.”

According Lemma, the company has made purchase of three aircrafts. For the purpose of its airline operation, East African Aviation bought King Air 200 aircraft at an outlay of USD Two Million from a US-based company and they are expecting delivery of the aircrafts in one month.

For the its air ambulance services, the company is thinking to make a purchase of Eurocopter and Cessna Citation aircraft that are fully equipped with oxygen and all other emergency medical equipment.

With regard to trainer aircrafts, the company bought two trainer aircrafts, Cessna172, from a Sweden-based company, Air Unlimited. The aircrafts were bought for EUR 380,000 and they are currently in Belguim going under some modification work. According to the general manager the expected day of delivery is in four months time. “Once we receive the aircraft ECAA will issue us the necessary licenses,” he explained.

The company has also bought two flight simulators which it is going to use for the piloting school. The simulators costed USD 390,000 The company bought one Cessna and one King Air simulator from a US-based company, Redbird Flight International. According to The Reporter the simulators are on their way to Djibouti Port.

Source: The Reporter