Ryanair has entered into an agreement with Airline Flight Academy at the opening of a new €50 million aviation training center in Santry, near Dublin Airport. The new facility has three full motion simulators, as well as two fixed base simulators.
On Tuesday (September 14, 2021), Ryanair announced the signing of a new agreement with Airline Flight Academy (AFA) at the opening of a brand new €50 million aviation training center in Santry, near Dublin Airport. AFA will now be Ryanair’s exclusive cadet training partner. The new training facility has three full motion simulators, including one 737 MAX and two Airbus A320s, as well as two fixed base simulators (one Boeing 737 and one Airbus A320). Additionally, the facility has a state-of-the-art cabin crew training and evacuation device along with a specialized fire training center. The AFA Centre also features over 15 large classrooms and five individual pilot briefing/de-briefing rooms. The new training centre will enable Ryanair to recruit over 5,000 new pilots, cabin crew members, engineers and ground operations professionals over the next five years.
Speaking at Tuesday’s opening ceremony, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said,
“After what has been an incredibly difficult 18months, today’s announcement is a real vote of confidence in the airline industry as it rebuilds after the pandemic. This €50m investment in a new training centre and the creation of 5,000 jobs across Europe, will mean fantastic opportunities for pilots, cabin crew, engineers and ground ops professionals over the next 5 years. It’s incredible growth and makes me really optimistic for the future. Congratulations to the team involved.”
Also commenting on the AFA Training Centre opening, Ryanair’s CEO, Eddie Wilson, said,
“We are honoured to welcome Tánaiste Leo Varadkar to the opening of the Airline Flight Academy Training Centre here in Santry. We have invested over €50m in this state-of-the-art Training Centre, and our agreement with AFA will deliver over 5,000 highly trained pilots, cabin crew, engineers and ground operations professionals over the next 5 years. Ryanair will create over 5,000 new jobs thanks to the expansion of our Boeing 737 fleet, with 210 MAX Gamechangers to be delivered over the next 5 years which will enable Ryanair to grow to carry 200m passengers p.a. by 2025.
“The AFA team have been a recruitment and training partner of Ryanair for many years, and we look forward to continuing to invest in this agreement, which has to date, enabled Ryanair to recruit and train over 18,000 highly qualified aviation professionals.”
AFA’s Director, Francis Farrell, added,
“Airline Flight Academy are honoured to have been selected as Ryanair’s exclusive cadet training partner here in Ireland. We are excited to be chosen to operate and run this new €50m Aviation Training Centre in Santry, and have committed to delivering Ryanair over 5,000 highly trained pilots, cabin crew, engineers, and ground ops professionals using these state of the art facilities in Santry. Ireland has always been a centre for high quality aviation professionals and AFA’s agreement with Ryanair will create 5,000 new jobs, both here in Ireland and across Europe as Ryanair continues to recover and grow post Covid.”
Ryanair Holdings, plc is Europe’s largest airline conglomerate and the parent company of Buzz, Lauda, Malta Air, and Ryanair DAC. The airline usually carries over 154 million passengers annually with over 2,500 daily departures. Ryanair typically serves over 200 destinations in 40 countries with a fleet of over 400 Boeing 737 Family aircraft and 20 Airbus A320s. Currently, the low-cost carrier has an additional 210 Boeing 737-8200s on order. Ryanair has maintained a stellar safety record for over 35 years and prides itself on being “Europe’s greenest cleanest airline group,” promising customers a reduction in CO2 emissions of up to 50%, versus the “Big 4 EU major airlines.”
Source: Ryanair