Aegean Airlines & Canadian CAE to invest 140 mln euros for Southeast Europe’s state-of-the-art aviation training center in Athens

A large training center for pilots and crews will be created in Athens through the alliance of Aegean Airlines with the Canadian CAE by the end of the year, which will put Greece at the top of air transport in Southeast Europe. It is an investment of 140 million euros which aims to create a “core” or ecosystem if you like that will meet the needs of Aegean and also attract airlines.

The big goal is for Athens to become an international center for pilot and crew training. It is a big challenge to which Aegean and CAE seem to have decided to respond and start this big investment.

To get a sense of the size and impact this move will have, the two companies organized a large press mission to Madrid, where CAE has already been operating its first European training center for years.

CAE Madrid is a large training center quite close to Madrid airport that annually trains more than 5,000 pilots and 15,000 cabin crew.

In total, CAE Madrid provides more than 50,000 hours of simulator training per year. The center houses 11 full flight simulators for the following aircraft types: A320, A330, A340, A350, DASH8 Q-300, CRJ200/900/1000, ATR72-600 and B787.

CAE Madrid is an excellent example of the type of facilities and experience that pilots training at the AEGEAN CAE Training Center in Athens can expect once it becomes operational.

Journalists had the opportunity to observe the training process, the equipment and the philosophy through which someone can develop into a pilot or cabin crew.

The training center of Athens

The joint venture created by CAE and AEGEAN in March 2023 laid the groundwork for the implementation of this ambitious plan that will put Athens at the center of global aviation. Its name is AEGEAN CAE Flight Training Center and it aspires to dominate the Southeast European region.

The implementation plan for the 140 million euro investment is in full swing. In its final phase it will create up to 500 new jobs and a total of more than 1,100 new direct and indirect highly skilled jobs. For the formation of the training center within the El.Venizelos airport of Athens, the implementation has already begun with the upgrading works of the building facilities of the new technical base, they have already started, in order to welcome the technological equipment (simulators) and other infrastructures.

The contractor will be delivering in stages from next September until the end of the year to start operation for the first four full flight simulators and will have capacity for up to seven full flight simulators as well as cabin crew training equipment.

At full deployment, it will be able to train up to 3,500 pilots (42,000 pilot training hours) and support the training needs of even more cabin crew members.

The AEGEAN CAE Flight Training Center will be part of AEGEAN’s new 85,000 m 2 technical base at Athens International Airport. It will be one of the most modern and green buildings of its kind in Europe.

The new center will be powered by solar energy with 35,000 m 2 of photovoltaic panels installed in the building’s “green” shell, producing 3 MW or 4.4 Gwh per year, and will be located in one of the most sustainable airports in Europe.

With its operation, Athens will become part of CAE’s global network. Aegean will have as a direct profit the domestic training of pilots and crews, numbers that are constantly increasing. Until today, the Greek airline sent them for training in Frankfurt at a Lufthansa training center.

The educational capacity of the Center allows the expansion of the support services that AEGEAN will be able to offer to third companies. It is typical that 60% of the Center’s capacity will be able to be utilized for the training of third-party flight personnel and 40% by AEGEAN.

With this agreement, AEGEAN and CAE have joined forces, know-how, and shared values to create the most modern and comprehensive pilot and cabin crew training center in Southeast Europe. An investment that offers unlimited possibilities to the people of AEGEAN while expanding the development prospects for the aviation industry, but also for the country as a whole.