Last Friday was a very special day in the history of FTEJerez: A special gala dinner at the prestigious Cortijo de Ducha hotel adjacent to the FTEJerez campus was held to coincide with the graduation of 25 Aer Lingus, British Airways and self-sponsored cadets.

The event also marked the 25th anniversary since the college first started operations in Prestwick, Scotland in May 1988 as British Aerospace Flight Training.

In his welcoming speech the FTEJerez CEO, Oscar Sordo, stated that it was significant that 25 students were graduating at the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the college. ‘This graduation is a further clear indication of FTEJerez’s special standing in the aviation training industry, where a group of self-sponsored cadets graduate together with students from Aer Lingus and British Airways, two time-honoured partners and leading European flag carriers’.

Guest of honour at the gala event was Mr Christoph Mueller, Aer Lingus CEO, who was accompanied by the airline’s Chief Pilot, Captain Frank Lawless, its Manager of Training and Standards, Captain Malachy O’Curry, as well as Ms Susan Kavanagh, their Cadet Pilot Liaison Manager.

Oscar Sordo mentioned that it was indeed an honour for the college to host Mr Mueller and his delegation, more so because it was the first time an Aer Lingus CEO visited FTEJerez in what FTE sees as a gesture of “strengthening the longstanding partnership between both organisations’’.

During his speech, Mr Mueller congratulated all the graduates and paid special tribute to the Aer Lingus cadets for having passed the airlines stringent selection process and having successfully completed the rigorous training course at FTEJerez. He also mentioned that the airline was looking forward to their return to Ireland where their services were required.

First Officer Matthew Chapman represented British Airways at the occasion that saw a further 6 of their cadets receiving their wings. The BA cadets are soon to return to the UK to commence their flying careers with BA prior to the next intake of BA Future Pilot Programme cadets that will be joining FTEJerez in November 2013.

Students graduating were John Arrigan, Nicholas Collett, Amy Cunningham, Fermín de Alarcón, Hugh Gilsenan, Mohamed Ibrahim, Joseph McNichol, Neil Murphy, Brian O’Leary, Justin Perry, Paul Purcell, Omar Shahien, Joel Garabedian, James Lockwood, Luka Matic, Andrew McLellan, Luciano Muriel, James Morgan, Thomas Powell, Matthew Riddell, Aazib Saqib, Lydie Vissoh, Michael Williams, Martijn Baay and Federico Ghiacci.

FTEJerez would like to congratulate the graduates for having completed this demanding course and once again thank the airline representatives for joining us on this very special occasion.