Bamboo Airways breaks ground for first aviation academy

Construction of the Bamboo Airways Aviation Academy started Sunday in the central town of Quy Nhon, Binh Dinh Province. The academy is expected to cost almost VND700 billion ($30.2 million) and start functioning by the end of 2021. It will train 3,500 pilots, attendants, technicians, ground staff, and flight dispatchers every year.

Property company FLC, which owns Bamboo Airways, also plans to build other similar facilities, including a 40-hectare aviation complex in the southern city of Can Tho to train people and offer logistics services.

Aviation is one of the three main majors to be offered at the FLC University in the northern Quang Ninh Province. To be situated in Ha Long Town, the VND4 trillion ($172 million) university will start accepting applications at the end of next year.

Vietnam is struggling to find enough pilots amid an aviation boom. Figures from the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam show that there will be a need for another 1,320 commercial pilots by 2020.

The country’s largest private company, Vingroup, earlier this month announced a tie-up with a Canadian academy to churn out 400 pilots and mechanics annually.