British Midland will officially unveil its new high-tech training centre near Heathrow Airport on Monday 5 July. The opening of the training centre will be officially marked at a ceremony to be hosted by British Midland chairman, Sir Michael Bishop and Sir Malcolm Field, Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

British Midland has invested £15 million in the new training centre that focuses the airline`s entire training provision into a single facility. The centre will provide training for over 2,000 of the airline’s staff each year with the opportunity to offer comprehensive programmes for third-party customers.

The investment will more than double British Midland`s annual training expenditure and reaffirms British Midland`s commitment in recognising the importance of world-class training.

The Central Training Centre at Stockley Close, West Drayton, will house four flight simulators including Boeing 737s and Airbus A320 series, and up to three cabin simulators, as well as training rooms for pilots, cabin crew, engineers and language training laboratory courses together with customer service training programmes.

Sir Michael Bishop, chairman, said:

“The opening of the new British Midland Training Centre marks the airline`s most significant investment to date in the field of staff training. It is impossible to underestimate the importance of training to British Midland in an aviation environment where training is the bedrock of both safety and customer service. Investment in people is vital if we are to succeed in our highly-competitive environment.

“This centre will provide the ultimate in training, clearly demonstrating our commitment not to just complying with minimum industry requirements, but exceeding them. I am confident that this new facility will provide us with the foundation to build upon our success to date and to ideally place us in implementing our plans for future expansion, including transatlantic operations.”

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