ALTA Launches Pioneer Collaboration Group in Latin America

Panama, September 7, 2023 - The Latin American & Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA) announced the launching of the Latin American & Caribbean ATPG Chapter, a collaborative group composed of airlines and suppliers that will work with States, industry organizations and key stakeholders to contribute to effective, efficient and relevant flight crew training worldwide.

This group works as an extension of the ALTA Pilot Training Committee, which gathers 12 airlines, and is chaired by Copa Airlines and Flybondi. For the first time, the LAC region will have this collaborative group, which will strengthen the work the ALTA committee is doing to achieve standardization and improvement in training.

“We are delighted to bring onboard Latin America & the Caribbean to the ATPG. One of the main benefits is to collaborate and use our synergies to better support aviation industry in the different regions", commented Andy Mitchell, Chairman of the ATPG Europe, who explained that the European group started in 2014 to support the communication and collaboration with EASA.

Ana Persiani, ALTA Head of Training, expressed that “The ATPG LAC Chapter will support the work the ALTA pilot training committee is doing to promote a safe and efficient pilot training, working with all stakeholders and under the umbrella of the crews well-being and extend the collaboration with other regions in the world so we can all learn from one another and have a single voice for pilot training worldwide. The conversations, exchange of information, and experiences held during the ALTA Pilot Training Connect, as our first in person meeting, will translate into the new priorities this team will be working on in the following year. We are honored to host this group formed by Latin American & Caribbean airlines that are ready to take aviation training in the region to the next level”.

Andy Smith, President of the Halldale Group, commented: “We at Halldale, and the staff of CAT magazine congratulate ALTA and the European chapter of the ATPG on the formation of an ATPG chapter covering the needs of the Caribbean and Latin American carriers, industry and Regulators. It is pleasing to see an idea stemming from our European event in 2013 prove itself and we look forward to supporting this initiative and reporting on its activities to the global community. “

Halldale played a key role in this initiative and has been working with ALTA since the last World Aviation Training Summit (WATS) in Orlando in the first quarter of this year. As part of the initiatives held, Halldale worked with EASA to have a Spanish version of the newly released Aviation Conversation Magazine, that incorporates safety, operational and training aspects, and the possibility for data exchange with other regions through the Aviation Training Leaders Forum tool, which will be incorporated into the ALTA website.