Airbus acquires Strategic Simulation Solutions training centre

Airbus has acquired a flight training centre from US company Strategic Simulation Solutions in Aurora, Colorado, to expand its presence on the West Coast.

The training centre primarily supports the needs of Frontier Airlines’ all-Airbus fleet with two FAA-certified Level D A320 full flight simulators. The OEM hopes to double the facility’s capacity in the coming years, beginning in 2018.

Prior to this acquisition, Airbus provided training to the North American region primarily from its Miami, Florida-based training centre. Over the past two years it has also expanded its training capacity for customers in the Americas with the addition of training centres in Mexico City, Mexico and in Campinas, Brazil.

At a worldwide level, the company has expanded its training network by more than threefold in just three years; growing from five locations in 2015 to 17 locations today.

“This is another major step forward in our ambition to grow services around the world,” said Laurent Martinez, Head of Services by Airbus. “Our Global Services Forecast predicts a need for 122,000 new pilots in the Americas by 2035, representing 23% of the world’s demand. We want our Airbus flight training facilities to be easily accessible to our customers regardless of their location, hence this latest move.”

In March 2017, the OEM began building its first fully-owned training centre in India.