Fledgling no-frills Thai Lion Air (TLA) is investing more than 400 million baht to set up an integrated training facility to underscore its long-term engagement in Thailand's aviation business.
The training centre, covering five rai of land in Navanakorn Industrial Estate in Pathum Thani, is meant to build the airline's human resources in flight and cabin crew as well as aircraft maintenance personnel.
The facility, now in the advanced stage of construction, addresses TLA's manpower requirements, which had become deficient in the face of Thailand's fast-growing aviation industry.
The facility will lay the foundation to support the growth plan of the low-cost carrier, a subsidiary of Indonesia's Lion Air Group that seeks to compete in Thailand's budget airline industry.
Due to come on stream by July, the heart of the facility is a full-flight simulator for the new generation of Boeing 737 aircraft, which is the backbone of TLA's current and future fleet.
During a media tour of the facility on Friday, TLA chief executive Aswin Yangkirativorn said the training centre will especially help cockpit crew.
TLA has 230 pilots and needs 17 more captains and 34 co-pilots, as the airline grows its fleet and operation.
Next year the airline will need 33 more of both captains and co-pilots, said Virin Anakevieng, TLA director of flight operations.
TLA is increasing its fleet to support its expanding network and frequencies. It has 21 Boeing jets, comprising eight B737-800 aircraft and 13 B737-900ERs. Three more Boeing jets will be added in the next few months.
Next year TLA intends to ramp up the fleet size by six with three Boeing 737-8 MAXs, the newest generation of the B737 family, two B737-800s and one B737-900ER, said Mr Aswin.
There will be 15 flight instructors when the TLA facility starts classes, with instructors increasing as more trainees enrol.
Having its own training centre will cut TLA's pilot training bills, estimated at 50 million baht a year from sending them to training schools in Singapore and Indonesia, said TLA executives.
The airline is shifting its network expansion focus to international routes from mostly domestic. China features predominantly, with regular flights from its Bangkok base at Don Mueang airport to Taiyuan, Jinan, Nanning and Chongqing.
India is also a target but he declined to elaborate on the airline's expansion locations.
The airline carried 1.9 million passengers in the first quarter this year and is expecting to tally 10 million for the year, up from 4.3 million last year.