As efforts to grow Africa’s domestic aviation and MRO capability ramp up, Cameroon may soon become a hub for training future aviation maintenance technicians.
French aftermarket services provider Vallair has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Cameroon Civil Aviation Authority (CCAA) to cooperate in fields such as aircraft maintenance, aircraft disassembly, and workforce and training development.
The initial cooperation will focus on training via bilateral student exchanges and collaborative training programs between Vallair’s Aircraft Academy and CCAA’s training facilities. According to Vallair, the aim is to “foster cross-cultural learning and ensure the development of a globally competent workforce in the aviation sector.”
Both parties have recently invested in aviation training growth. In 2022, Vallair invested in Douai, France-based Aircraft Academy to help it recruit and train its growing workforce. Students at Aircraft Academy receive in-person training opportunities at Vallair’s facilities in Chateauroux and Montpellier.
Since the investment, the Academy has moved to new facilities near Vallair’s Chateauroux hangars. “This proximity is proving to be a great advantage in attracting students, as well as the smart new accommodation that the local town has built, which also incorporates leisure facilities,” says a spokesperson for Vallair.
Also in 2022, CCAA launched Cameroon’s first university-level aviation training, a nine-month course on aircraft maintenance and recycling. The course, which provides a specialized university certificate, is open to graduate students with existing degrees in mechanical, industrial, electrical or telecommunications engineering. It is designed to meet industry and regulatory requirements for high-level aviation managers of aircraft maintenance, continuing airworthiness management and aircraft end-of-life services.
The first of the cooperation’s student exchanges will take place in September, when Vallair will welcome two students from Cameroon who are studying under the aircraft maintenance and recycling program. Vallair Group President Gregoire Lebigot also notes that “CCAA has a world-class training facility,” adding: “Together we will impart knowledge and embark upon a far-reaching and innovative program that will also see Vallair’s expertise being replicated in Cameroon.”
While Vallair has not confirmed plans to set up its own maintenance operations in Cameroon, it noted that the cooperation will consider economic opportunities at secondary airports in the country for aircraft maintenance, teardown and recycling. The MRO provider already works with African airlines on component support programs.
“The CCAA operates several domestic airports which provide a fertile ground for establishing economically beneficial and sustainable aircraft maintenance and disassembly operations,” says Paule Avomo Assoumou epse Koki, director general of CCAA. “This partnership is an important opportunity to jointly study and implement a range of skills development activities.”
In recent years, several other MRO companies have invested in aftermarket development within Africa. Last year, Joramco launched a new maintenance training school in Ghana in partnership with Aerojet Aviation.
Airbus also has an ongoing initiative to help African airlines strengthen local maintenance capabilities. As part of this initiative, it wants to create a licensing curriculum that is trusted across the whole continent so aviation professionals trained in one African country could work in another.
Editor’s Note: Stay tuned for the August issue of Inside MRO, which will investigate some of the latest aftermarket developments in Africa.
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