The Saudi Aviation Flight Academy (SAFA), a branch of the Saudi Aviation Sciences Company Club at the Saudi Aviation Club in Riyadh, has made a further step towards its establishment with a contract signed for the purchase of 20 Diamond training aircraft and 12 flight simulator systems. The contract, which was signed on the sidelines of the Dubai Air Show by Mohammed Bin Mohammed Bin Ladin, represents part of the SR300 million allocated to fund SAFA, of which 60 million is destined for training aircraft. The project is the first partnership the academy has entered into with the private sector. Saudi Aviation Club Chief Executive Abdullah Al-Ju'eiwi said the academy had received approval from the Civil Aviation Commission and the go-ahead from the High Commission for Riyadh City Development. Prince Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, Emir of Riyadh, laid the foundation stone. “Works on SAFA will begin at the beginning of the new Hijri year,” Al-Ju'eiwi said. “The academy expects to take on approximately 400 trainees a year over the first five years, with a total of 120,000 sq m allocated for the project at the Saudi Aviation Club Airfield in Al-Thamama. The first trainees are expected to walk through its doors in the last quarter of 2010.”
