Emirates announced plans to establish Emirates Flight Training Academy, a dedicated flight training centre that will be located at Dubai World Central Airport. Emirates is investing AED400m (US$109m) in the development of this dedicated flight training facility which will have the capacity to train up to 400 students at one time. The Academy will incorporate its own Flight Training Organisation (FTO) which will allow Emirates, for the first time, to train its UAE National Cadet Pilots in Dubai.
Construction on the Academy is scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2012 with completion targeted for the third quarter of 2013. The fully integrated facility will comprise of classrooms, student accommodation, ground based simulators and flight training.