AEGEAN & CAE Establish New Joint Venture

AEGEAN, one of Greece's largest airlines, and CAE have established a joint venture for the first advanced flight training center in Greece. With a capacity for up to seven full-flight simulators, the AEGEAN CAE Flight Training Centre will be part of AEGEAN's new 85,000-m2 technical base at Athens International Airport. The new centre is expected to begin pilot and cabin crew training by the end of 2023 and will be the most advanced flight training hub in South-East Europe powered by green energy, said CAE.

The joint venture will initially operate four full-flight simulators, including two Airbus A320neo, one Boeing 737NG, and one ATR 72-600, as well as cabin crew training equipment, and will have space for three additional full-flight simulators. At full capacity, the centre will be able to train up to 3,500 pilots (42,000 pilot training hours) and many more cabin crew annually.

The new Flight Training Centre expands CAE's global training network and is integral to the creation of AEGEAN's aviation ecosystem in Greece. This is part of AEGEAN's € 140 million investment to bolster the local aviation industry and position the airline and Greece as an aviation hub in Southeastern Europe.

The Flight Training Center will be powered by solar energy produced by the 35,000-m2 of photovoltaic panels embedded in AEGEAN's new "green" hangar, generating 3 MW or 4.4 Gwh of electricity annually, and located at one of Europe's most sustainable airports.

In December 2022, AEGEAN announced an investment of € 140 million to create the country's first Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Facility (MRO) and the first Simulator Training Facility for pilots and cabin crew members in one of Europe's first hangars to be powered by solar panels in Europe. An investment that, upon maturity, is expected to create up to 500 new direct jobs and a total of more than 1,100 new direct and indirect high-skilled jobs over a five-to-seven-year period.

With a capacity of 85,000-m2, this project will fill a significant gap in infrastructure at a local level for third party support services through two main parallel activities: 1) The MRO center with the development of a technical base of up to 10 maintenance, repair and technical control positions for various types of aircraft and 2) The AEGEAN CAE Flight Training Centre for pilots and cabin crew members, utilizing up to seven full-flight flight simulators for the main aircraft types, as well as facilities special cabin crew training.

The project also foresees the technological modernization and energy upgrade of the building facilities, through the installation of 35,000-m2 of photovoltaic panels that will create one of the first hangars to be powered by solar panels in Europe.