by Athens is dynamically entering the aviation training map thanks to the major new investment by AEGEAN which is preparing – with the aim of operating by the end of the year – the AEGEAN CAE Flight Training Center.
Five months after the announcement by AEGEAN of its investment of 140 million euros and almost a month after the announcement of its joint venture with the Canadian CAE, world leader in simulators, the construction works of the AEGEAN CAE Flight Training Center are in full development (upgrading of the facilities of the building of the new technical base is in progress to accommodate technological equipment, simulators, i.e. other infrastructures) with September set as the first provisional date of delivery, the objective being that the training center be operational by the end of the year with initially 4 simulators (in its full development, it will have 7).
How AEGEAN’s big investment and new pilot training center will make the country a benchmark in aviation education
The profession of pilot is no longer a distant dream – AEGEAN invests in the young people of tomorrow
The AEGEAN – CAE Training Center will be part of the new AEGEAN Technical Base with a total area of 85,000 m2 to be established at Athens International Airport.
An investment that offers unlimited possibilities to the people of AEGEAN while expanding development prospects for the aviation industry, but also for the country as a whole.
A large training center for pilots and aircrew that will put Greece at the top of the map of aviation training in South Eastern Europe, with the most modern and up-to-date equipment.
A training center not only to cover the needs of AEGEAN, but which will also cover the needs of third parties at the rate of 40%/60% by attracting and covering the training needs of foreign pilots, foreign airlines and, respectively, training needs of cabin crew.
In this context and wishing to give a taste of what the Athens training center will be like, AEGEAN and CAE organized a press mission to Madrid and welcomed journalists from all over Greece to the first European training center in CAE, showing them around the facilities of a virtually modern school, a training center with state-of-the-art simulators as well as cabin crew training facilities.
The welcome of Dimitris Gerogiannis, CEO of AEGEAN:
The reception by Marina Spyridaki Corporate Affairs Manager of AEGEAN:
CAE simulators
The state-of-the-art CAE simulators, the cost of each of which, as revealed by the folks at the Canadian company, start from 6 million and go up to 20 million, depending on the model, are basically small robotic rooms, exact copies of aircraft cockpits in which pilots can fully simulate flights and perform test flights in various scenarios. The hydraulic systems inside the simulator and the six hydraulic legs on which it rests allow the representation of every vibration, movement and feeling that would be present in corresponding situations in real flight conditions while the displays fully simulate the environment. outside. In the case of the visit of the Greek journalists, from the windows you could see… Spata, live take-off or landing from and to El. Venizelos, but also from other airports in the country such as Santorini.
As the folks at CAE in Madrid explained, pilots are required to do eight hours of simulation per semester, as part of their continuing education and retraining with all that that entails for the needs and the demand respectively that exist for specific simulators.
With the operation of the AEGEAN CAE Flight Training Center, on the one hand, the training needs of pilots and crews of the company will be met, but it will also function to cover the general needs of airlines in the region at the wider.
“It is typical that for an airline to reserve a place now for the training of its pilots, it will have to wait 4-5 months”, as explained by the head of economic planning of AEGEAN, Yiannis Panagiotopoulos, to iefimerida time ago.
Complex training for the difficult profession of cabin crew
CAE’s training center in Madrid also includes cabin crew training facilities, as it will include in Athens. An aircraft cabin in an interior capable of accommodating cabin crew to train in extreme situations. Open the security door, activate the slide, extinguish the fire, order and take care of the emergency evacuation of the cabin. Much more difficult and complex than it seems, requiring total coordination, harmony and… composure.
The systems allow full simulation of extreme and dangerous situations for training crews, who AEGEAN officials say are trained to work as a team on every trip, even if they are flying together for the first time, speaking the same language and know exactly the same things, that is to say everything, since their first day on the job.
What will the AEGEAN CAE Flight Training Center in Athens look like?
The first modern flight simulator and crew training center in Greece, the AEGEAN – CAE training center (the largest and most modern of its kind in South Eastern Europe) will be part of new AEGEAN Technical Base with a total area of 85,000 m2 to be created at Athens International Airport.
It is an investment of 140 million euros to create in particular:
- of the first modern aircraft maintenance service center
- and the first flight simulator and crew training center in Greece
The upgrade works are already underway with the objective of having the educational center operational (in its first stage) by the end of 2023.
The crown of the training center will of course be the CAE simulators. In the first phase of its operation, the Athens center will be equipped with four state-of-the-art simulators, namely:
- two Airbus A320neo simulators,
- a Boeing 737NG and
- an ATR 72-600.
Subsequently and in its full development, the center will have a total of seven CAE simulators with the capacity to train up to 3,500 pilots per year (42,000 hours of training).
The first “green” Hangar in Europe
And all this in one of the first “green” hangars in Europe.
It should be noted that for its operation, the flight simulator and the training center for the crews of AEGEAN and CAE will consume green energy which will be produced by the installation of 35,000 m2 photovoltaic panels with a total capacity of 3 MW or 4.4 GWh per year, which will be installed in the new technical base of AEGEAN.
A modern ecosystem of support services for air transport in Greece
The Aircrew Training Center and the Aircraft (Heavy) Maintenance Unit will now be added to the already existing AEGEAN schools, forming a modern ecosystem of air transport support services based in Athens.
The ability to operate aircraft maintenance will be achieved with the development and gradual staffing of the technical base, with a final capacity of up to 10 positions for heavy maintenance, repairs and controls of aircraft of various types.
The already existing Olympic Air Engineer Training School, with a strong operational tradition, will also join the same ecosystem, as well as the AEGEAN pilot training organization, which is already operational.
The importance of investment
Thanks to this investment, AEGEAN significantly strengthens its competitiveness and technical capabilities, broadening its development options and the level of knowledge of its employees. Greece is gradually placing itself on the European and international map as an executive incubator for the company and the country, training the pilots and engineers of the future, offering unlimited possibilities and creating a new dynamic of added value, extroversion and competitiveness in AEGEAN, but also in the industry more broadly. .
AEGEAN’s Economic Planning Officer, Mr. Panagiotopoulos had described the investment as the creation of “a center that will make a decisive contribution to strengthening the country’s extroversion and development in the field of teaching of aviation, as the aviation sector is expected to have great growth prospects in the coming years”. This is an activity that has not existed in Greece until now, bringing direct and indirect benefits, since the country is becoming an essential hub in the field of aeronautical training, since thousands of pilots and crew members from third-party companies will travel to Athens every year and serve as ambassadors for the country. It should not be forgotten to mention that our geographical location itself serves, given that our potential clientele in European and Middle Eastern countries is located at a distance of 2-4 hours flight time”.
An investment which, when mature, should create up to 500 new direct jobs and a total of more than 1,100 new direct and indirect highly qualified jobs over a period of five to seven years.
CAE Flight Training Center in Madrid
CAE’s training center in Madrid is located
10 minutes from Madrid Barajas Airport and trains over 5,000 pilots (50,000 flight simulation hours) and over 15,000 cabin crew per year.
It has 11 full flight simulators for the following aircraft types: A320, A330, A340, A350, DASH8 Q-300, CRJ200/900/1000, ATR72-600 and B787, while there are 3 APT devices for the A320, A330 and A340, as well as an IPT for the CRJ200 and CRJ900 aircraft, one for the DASH8 and one for the B787.
