Global aviation training leader, CAE, confirmed today at EBACE 2024 that its new Vienna training centre will be home to up to nine full-flight simulators (FFS), including the newly announced Embraer Phenom and Bombardier Challenger 3500 aircraft. This is in addition to the Bombardier Global 6000 Vision and 7500 announced last year. CAE will also be offering maintenance training in Vienna, Austria. The new centre is scheduled to open in Q2 2025.
According to CAE’s 2023 Aviation Talent Forecast, more than 8,000 business aviation pilots and 10,000 private jet maintenance technicians will need to be recruited and trained in Europe by 2032. CAE’s European growth is aiming to address the increased demand for highly skilled aviation professionals in Europe.
The new Central European training centre in Vienna will add capacity and complement the pilot and maintenance technician training delivered at CAE Burgess Hill and fulfills CAE’s goal of building facilities closer to customers to make training more accessible and efficient. Like all CAE training centres worldwide, CAE Vienna will offer all phases of classroom and simulator training for established pilots to earn their type-rating and complete recurrent training for differing authorities.
“We plan to add a Challenger 3500 and Phenom FFS in Vienna to address the high demand in Europe for pilots rated on these aircraft,” said Alexandre Prévost, CAE’s Division President, Business Aviation. “We are seeing great interest for Bombardier Global 6000 Vision and 7500 training, and the Global 7500 full-flight simulator will be the first one in Europe providing access to training for this state-of-the-art aircraft,” he added.
CAE’s comprehensive maintenance technician training is offered on aircraft from OEMs including Bombardier, Dassault, Embraer, Gulfstream, and more.
The Phenom simulator destined for Vienna is part of a joint venture between CAE and Embraer, called Embraer CAE Training Services, which includes seven Phenom FFS, the latest of which entered operation at CAE Burgess Hill in March.
CAE forecasts an 18% growth in the world’s business aviation fleet between 2023 and 2032, with up to 26,000 business jets in service and the need for more than 100,000 new business aviation professionals to be recruited. With retirements and attrition, coupled with the industry’s growth, the need to train business aviation professionals effectively and quickly is real.
CAE has responded to the projected demand by rapidly expanding its training footprint globally. In the past 13 months alone, for business aviation training, the company has inaugurated its first North American West Coast training centre in Las Vegas, Nevada, opened a new training centre in Savannah, Georgia, and broken ground on the new Vienna training centre.
“We’ve also been investing in the development of innovative solutions to make training more effective while enhancing safety,” said Prévost. “For instance, CAE Rise™ uses Metrics-Based Insights (MBI) and telemetry data to better inform instructors during the grading process so they can focus on a pilot’s soft skills to better assess their overall performance, while at the same time allowing us to proactively detect, and ultimately address, emerging safety trends in the industry. Instructors can use the data during their debrief and show trainees how they performed a particular maneuver.”
CAE is continually working to enhance efficiency in its training centres. “The goal is not only to offer a better experience for our clients, but also to train more professionals while maintaining or improving industry, and our own, standards. We have deployed online learning tools, improved scheduling, and curricula, implemented faster registration and check-in processes, and are deploying CAE Connect, an all-in-one portal for business aviation operators to manage their crews’ training in one place,” said Prévost.
*All forecasts are according to CAE’s Aviation Talent Forecast 2023.
CAE – Civil Aviation elevates and advances human performance by providing holistic and immersive training solutions for professionals in business and commercial aviation. Whether for pilots, maintenance technicians, cabin crew or air traffic controllers, we help keep aircraft in the skies with exceptionally trained professionals ready to take on any challenge safely. We operate 70+ facilities on five continents, training over 135,000 business and commercial professionals annually.
At CAE, we equip people in critical roles with the expertise and solutions to create a safer world. As a technology company, we digitalize the physical world, deploying software-based simulation training and critical operations support solutions. Above all else, we empower pilots, cabin crew, airlines, and defence and security forces to perform at their best every day and when the stakes are the highest. Around the globe, we’re everywhere customers need us to be with more than 13,000 employees in approximately 250 sites and training locations in over 40 countries. CAE represents more than 75 years of industry firsts—the highest-fidelity flight and mission simulators as well as training programs powered by digital technologies. We embed sustainability in everything we do. Today and tomorrow, we’ll make sure our customers are ready for the moments that matter.
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