Local engineers to be trained under Saudi-US aviation program

RIYADH: The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) will train its Saudi engineers under a Saudi-US expertise exchange program.
The decision was the outcome of a meeting held in Washington on Monday by GACA President Abdulhakim bin Mohammed Al-Tamimi when he led a delegation to the US Federal Aviation Administration to hold discussions aimed at improving bilateral cooperation.
Al-Tamimi held discussions with Ali Bahrami, associate administrator for aviation safety at the US Federal Aviation Administration.
The two sides discussed several topics related to civil aviation and the means to develop further cooperation between the two authorities in the fields of training and exchange of experience.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) will be issued shortly for the specialized programs to train GACA engineers and specialists in the field of aviation operations, aircraft certification, aircraft validity and other specialized technical programs.
Al-Tamimi stressed the importance of developing cooperation and relations with the US Federal Aviation Administration in all areas of civil aviation, particularly regarding safety, security and modern technologies.
He said the meetings with the US delegation were successful, which indicates a strong relationship between the two countries in various fields.
The GACA delegation held three meetings with several US aviation authorities with Bahrami representing the American side, accompanied by several representatives of foreign and international US aviation affairs and airports bureaus.
The GACA emerged from the Presidency of Civil Aviation in 2006. Since then, the authority has been on a mission to become a main contributor to Saudi Arabia’s gross domestic product (GDP) while expanding and modernizing its aviation sector, primarily employing qualified Saudis.
Over the years, the Kingdom has achieved unprecedented growth in civil aviation which has helped drive development at airports across Saudi Arabia.
GACA oversees economic and safety regulations, air navigation services and the operations of Saudi Arabia’s 27 existing airports comprising five international, nine regional and 13 domestic airports with a collective passenger traffic of 75 million as of 2014.