SAFA's first training aircraft arrive in Jeddah

On Monday morning the aircraft received Certificates of Airworthiness from the Saudi Arabian General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) which has now formally recognised type design in the Kingdom and have listed it on the HZ aircraft register. So Monday afternoon the two Diamonds – registered as HZ-SA01 and HZ-SA02 – began the flight back to Saudi.

SAFA’s managing director Captain William Roe headed an Academy team in Vienna to receive the first aircraft on Sunday from Christian Dries, Diamond’s CEO. GACA was also present at the handover through Khaled Alghamdi,   GACA’s Aviation Safety Inspector

Speaking at the handover Captain Roe thanked the SAFA team, GACA, “our principals, board members, and partners for working together to make these events a reality”.

“Without you and your unwavering support, SAFA could not become a reality,” he said.

“As most of you know, there is much work left to do, but with perseverance, dedication, and keeping sight of the ultimate goal of developing a world-class centre of excellence for aviation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, we will succeed,” Captain Roe said.

Pictured above L-R: Johan Wahlander – Diamond Area Sales and Sales Support Manager

Captain Chris Kokai – SAFA Head of Training ; Michael Schodl – Diamond Head of Sales and Marketing ; Christian Dries – Diamond Chief Executive Officer ; Khaled Alghamdi – GACA Aviation Safety Inspector ; Captain William Roe – SAFA Managing Director;

Engineer David Ludlow – SAFA Director of Maintenance ; Patrick van’t Foort – SAFA Chief of Standards