A different path

This year, Ethiopian Airlines graduated the first 47 cadets enrolled in its multi-crew pilot license (MPL) training program, a pioneering effort aimed at preparing qualified first officers for the airline from scratch. The graduations marked a major milestone for this flag carrier, which claims to be the fastest-growing airline in Africa. But they were also significant achievements for a Canadian company: FlightPath International (FPI), which designed and implemented Ethiopian Airlines’ MPL training program beginning in October 2011.

As FPI’s first MPL training effort, the Ethiopian program was in many ways groundbreaking for the company (as well as for the industry, which is still moving slowly toward this training model first put forward by the International Civil Aviation Organization in 2006). In other ways, however, it was typical of the approach that, in just 10 short years, has propelled FPI to worldwide success. It was a program designed to meet the highest international standards, but also one tailored to the needs of a company in an emerging aviation market. It was executed onsite by some of the most experienced and capable instructors in the business. And it was delivered as promised, with 100 per cent of the initial class successfully attaining the standards required to act as a first officer aboard an international airline.

Since 2003, FPI has built its reputation on exactly this combination of professional excellence and field expediency. Now, even as it’s poised to become one of the aviation training industry’s major players, it has no intention of sacrificing the flexibility that sets it apart from its competitors.

“FlightPath, I believe, is an anomaly in the industry,” FPI president Andrew Lucas told Canadian Skies. “I don’t know of any other company in the world that does what we do.”

FlightPath International is headquartered in Alliston, Ont. – a growing community of around 15,000 people, surrounded by rolling farm fields an hour’s drive north of Toronto. This is where Lucas was living when he decided to start FPI in 2003. A former United States Army helicopter and airplane pilot, Lucas had spent six years working at FlightSafety International’s Toronto Learning Centre before being laid off in the post-9/11 downturn. Not one to sit idle, Lucas founded FPI less than two weeks later, along with another flight instructor, Jonathan Kordich, who is now FPI’s executive vice president.

As Lucas recalled, FPI started off with modest aims and a philosophy of “let’s take our time and not try to conquer the world.” The company saw immediate training needs among regional airlines flying Bombardier CRJ, Dash 7 and Dash 8 series aircraft, especially in emerging aviation markets like Africa and the Middle East. These were markets whose operators had specific needs and challenges that couldn’t necessarily be met by generic courses in remote training centres. FPI responded to those gaps, developing customized, onsite training programs supplemented by instruction in leased simulators at convenient locations.

“The business model became, ‘we come to you,’” Lucas explained. “We were going to the operator and becoming part of their team as we were delivering their training. . . They were getting reasonably-priced training that was applicable to their environment.”

From the beginning, Lucas wanted to maintain the highest standard of training: the kind that airlines “would expect to see from the big guns,” he said. To achieve this, not only did FPI make significant investments in developing its courseware, it also committed to hiring capable instructors with current, relevant, real-world experience.

“Our instructors actually have experience on type in the airlines,” said Lucas, explaining that an instructor’s practical experience in the aircraft they’re teaching is key to their credibility. Although finding such instructors is always a challenge, according to Lucas, FPI has been helped by the uniqueness of its business model: “We attract a lot of highly experienced people who want to get involved in what FlightPath is.” (This wealth of experience has also allowed FPI to expand into consulting roles, in which the company helps airlines commence operations or introduce new fleets by providing operational as well as training services. As Lucas puts it, “We really have the capability to walk in and start an airline.”)

FPI’s approach proved to be just what the market wanted. Although the company did little in the way of advertising, it grew its business steadily through repeat customers and word of mouth. “Our expansion is the result of happy customers,” Lucas explained. “The customers keep coming back to us because we are giving them something different.” In the past several years, that expansion has accelerated, with FPI gaining broader name recognition and pushing into new markets. “We are diversifying remarkably,” Lucas said. “It has been a true success story.”

Some of the greatest expansion for the company has come on the technical training side. FPI has long been recognized for its expertise in this area, especially through its strong relationship with Bombardier (FPI is an exclusive Bombardier Technical Training Provider). Recently, however, FPI has grown this aspect of its business considerably, in part through the acquisition of Aveos courseware and employment of Aveos instructors following that company’s liquidation in 2012. Today, FPI boasts Transport Canada and European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) approved technical courses on the Airbus A310/319/320/321; Boeing 777; Embraer 170/175/190/195; and the entire Bombardier CRJ series of aircraft and their business jet variants. According to FPI technical training vice president Garth Twitchell, the company also has an expanding line-up of Airbus, Boeing and other specialty courses that will position the technical training division well for further growth.

FPI has likewise expanded its pilot training into new models and markets, with the creation of a now-proven MPL program being one of the most exciting developments on that side. FPI executive vice president Jonathan Kordich compares MPL training to the flight training he received in the Royal Canadian Air Force: a highly structured approach to qualifying pilots for first officer roles with just a few hundred hours of flight training, rather than the 1,500 hours of flight experience that has been standard in the airline industry. With Boeing recently predicting a need for 498,000 new commercial airline pilots in the next 20 years, MPL training is one promising solution to the predicted global pilot shortage.

According to Kordich, FPI was already developing an MPL program when Ethiopian Airlines expressed an interest in it: “We know a lot about MPL and the benefits of MPL,” he said. The program that FPI put into effect at Ethiopian is a 260-hour course that emphasizes type specific training from day one.

“We implemented FTDs [flight training devices] that are relevant to the airplane right from the beginning,” Kordich stressed, noting that even that portion of the cadets’ training that is conducted in Diamond DA40 trainers follows airline procedures as closely as possible. Although the program can be completed in as little as 14-anda- half months if required, Ethiopian’s courses have run closer to 18 months.

Kordich said the benefits of Ethiopian’s MPL training program are already apparent, with graduates showing promise as “highly aware” and “highly effective” first officers. He credits this success to a number of factors, including the organization of the program and its focus on type-specific training. To succeed with an MPL program, he said, “you have to have the right candidates, you have to have the right program, and it has to be organized properly.” Moreover, he said, “you have to have the airline itself highly engaged throughout the program.”

Ethiopian Airlines is, indeed, deeply invested in its MPL training. In fact, a key feature of its relationship with FPI is the latter’s commitment to transitioning the program to Ethiopian to manage in-house. “We’re going into the country to teach them how to be sufficient with their own people,” said Lucas, explaining that this model is becoming a common one for the company. FPI is not the first Western company to recognize that emerging markets aren’t simply seeking products and services: they’re also looking for guidance in developing their own aviation capabilities and infrastructure. FPI sees its ability to provide this type of assistance as one of its competitive differentiators, as well as its contribution to a larger, safer aviation industry that benefits everyone. “We’re giving an industry within a country a high level of standards,” said Kordich. “To do something like this, I think it’s a great path, I think it’s a noble path, and I think we’re making a difference.”

FPI’s impressive growth has recently yielded some tangible indicators, including a new 22,000-squarefoot headquarters in Alliston. Around a dozen of FPI’s approximately 65 employees are based here (most of the company’s instructors don’t have permanent offices, but simply deploy to training locations as required). Purchased with an eye toward further expansion, the new building already has 4,000 square feet dedicated to administrative offices and records storage, with plenty more available for conversion as required.

In July of this year, the company unveiled the FlightPath International Training Centre and Executive Residence on Dixon Road in Toronto. Through an innovative partnership with the Travelodge Hotel near Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, FPI has taken over most of the hotel’s lower level, remodeling the space to feature state-of-the-art classrooms with ceiling-mounted, large-screen projection systems and in-ceiling audio, as well as a parts room to facilitate technical training. Students stay in comfortable king-sized rooms during their stay, and have access to an executive lounge as well as the hotel’s other amenities, including an onsite restaurant. According to FPI marketing coordinator Wendy Dodd, the idea is to provide students with “the comforts of home” during demanding courses that can last several weeks. “They really don’t have to leave the building,” she noted – which can be a big plus during harsh winters.

With its well-earned reputation and recent diversification, FPI is now positioned to compete at the highest level. Consequently, it is actively seeking to expand its activities in mature aviation markets that were previously prohibitive for it to enter, including Canada and the United States. The company is already providing training to, among others, Air Canada and Transport Canada, which turns to FPI for its Dash 8 training. “It’s a good customer to have, your own national authority!” remarked Lucas.

The company is also in the process of opening a United States subsidiary on the East Coast. “The Americas are really in our sights,” Lucas continued. “Now that we’ve expanded into the larger aircraft types, there is a market for us here.”

Despite the company’s tremendous potential for advancement, Lucas is being careful to keep it growing at a sustainable rate – a strategy that has served the company well over the first decade of its existence. “We’ve grown our business as demand has been there,” he said. “That has kept us solvent, it has kept us profitable, and it has kept us growing in a difficult financial environment.”

Most important to Lucas is that the company does not expand so quickly that it loses its ability to maintain the quality of its instructional staff and training programs. When FPI started, Lucas said, “We really wanted to make a difference as opposed to just starting a commercial training line.”

Through its commitment to excellence, and to listening to and meeting the needs of its operators, that is exactly what FlightPath International has done – and is prepared to continue to do for the decades to come.