Ťok: Another direct airline will operate between Prague and China14/5/2017|Press releasesPrague is gradually becoming an air hub for the link between China and Central and Eastern Europe. This was confirmed during the talks between Transport Minister Dan Ťok and the President of the Chinese Civil Aviation Authority, Feng Cheng-lin. The meeting was also attended by Czech President Milos Zeman, who is currently visiting China. "It is an interest from both our and the Chinese side to turn Prague into a hub linking Chinese businesses with Central and Eastern Europe, so the Chinese Civil Aviation Authority has already granted the fourth licence to a direct airline from Shanghai with a change in the city of Si-an," the Transport Minister Dan Ťok said. The first flight could take place already in six months. Air carriers currently operate three regular direct air links from Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu to the Czech Republic. Passengers can use connecting flights in Prague to a number of European destinations. Similarly, passengers travelling from Prague in the opposite direction can take flights from Chinese cities to other destinations in China, Asia or Australia. Czechs train new Chinese pilots The topics of other meeting topics with representatives of the Chinese Civil Aviation Authority, the CAAC, was pilot and air traffic control training, or the entry of Czech sports aircraft manufacturers into the Chinese market. "We offer training capacities for air traffic controllers, pilots and aviation personnel through the state-run Air Traffic Control Authority of the Czech Republic. The F-Air flight school in Benešov was granted a licence to the Chinese Sichuan Airlines Pilot Training in October 2016, which began in February 2017 with theoretical instructions at the University of Nanchang, Jiangsu Province. The first group of 14 future pilots joined the training in the middle of April," adds Transport Minister Ťok. Another group of 35 Chinese students started intensive English language courses at the Faculty of Transportation Sciences in Prague and from September 2017 they will start professional pilot studies. In 2019 (after two years of studies), they will start a practical course with F-Air to obtain the ATPL transportation pilot licence. The Czech delegation also discussed with the Chairman of the Chinese Civil Aviation Authority the certification of the Czech aircraft L-410. The Chinese side says that further developments depend on whether a civil aviation safety agreement will be signed between China and the European Union. According to the chairman of the Chinese Civil Aviation Authority, this agreement should be concluded by the end of the year, and then it will be possible to begin certification of the machine for the Chinese market.