Aviation training company CAE has announced it will be launching a new central Europe business training centre in Austria.
The announcement was made at the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition where the company revealed that the 8,000m² centre would begin operations in Vienna in the latter half of 2024.
Nick Leontidis, the group president for CAE’s civil aviation, said: “This new centre will be a game-changer for business aviation training in the region, offering programs on the region’s most sought-after aircraft platforms in an immersive learning environment.
“CAE Vienna is another example of the significant investments we are making to bring business aviation training closer to where our customers operate their aircraft.”
Pilot training offerings at the centre will include six full-flight simulators (FFS) including the first Bombardier Global 7500 FFS in Europe alongside a Global 6000 simulator and four other business jet FFSs to be announced later.
The site, which was originally announced in April before plans for its location were finalised, will also be built with the capacity for an expansion allowing it to host up to nine FFSs.
The Vienna centre will join CAE’s network of over 200 sites in more than 40 countries and is set to open soon after CAE’s other upcoming centres in the US in Lake Nona, Florida and Savannah, Georgia.
Recent expansions are part of an industry push to meet a global requirement for an additional 45,000 business aviation pilots in the next 10 years according to Leontidis.
Vienna is an unsurprising choice for the new training centre as Vienna Airport recently celebrated strong passenger numbers in 2022 as part of its post-pandemic recovery.
Günther Ofnern, a management board member of Flughafen Wien, the owner of the airport, described “strong growth in all areas” for the site which is expected to reach 26-27 million total passengers this year.
CAE’s announcement also follows the news that the organisation has signed a 20-year agreement with Qantas to maintain equipment and cover day-to-day operations at the airline’s new training centre in Sydney.
