LAT invests €89-million in pilot training

Lufthansa Aviation Training (LAT) is investing a total of €89-millionin pilot training equipment and in the infrastructure of its own traininglocations to meet the high customer demand.

Currently, Lufthansa Aviation Training operates 54 fullflight simulators (FFS). In 2019 and 2020, the training fleet of the trainingprovider is going to be upgraded to 60 simulators through new purchases.

Long-haul segment

At both Lufthansa hubs in Frankfurt and Munich, LAT isresponding to the fleet strategy of Lufthansa Airlines: in Frankfurt two Boeing777-9 FFS are scheduled to go into service as well as one Airbus A350 FFS inMunich. There is an increasing need for training on both aircraft typesconsidering the integration of Boeing 777-9 jets within Lufthansa Airlines in2020 and with regard to the Airbus A350 aircraft based in Munich. All threesimulators will be ready for training by mid to late 2020.

Airbus A320

LAT has certified and commissioned a new A320 simulator atits training location in Berlin in March 2019, and a second one will follow inJune. The two latest additions will move to Vienna in 2020 after completion ofthe training center there.

Opening up newbusiness segments

With the acquisition of a new Boeing 737MAX-FFS for theBerlin training location, LAT has expanded its own product portfolio by afurther aircraft type and has created new training capacities.

LAT is taking a further important step by investing in itsfirst combined helicopter simulator H145/135 to go into service at the trainingcenter in Frankfurt.

“2019 is a special year for us, because with the largest investment in the history of Lufthansa Aviation Training in the field of pilot training, we are setting a decisive course for meeting the high customer demand in the future," says Ola Hansson, managing director of Lufthansa Aviation Training.

Site expansionprojects

The training location of LAT in Munich will be expanded byfour additional spaces by 2020, two of which are planned for the new A350 FFSand one for the Embraer 190 FFS to be taken over from Frankfurt. The remainingtwo spaces will be used for flexible further planning, taking into account thegrowth at the Munich hub.

In Vienna, LAT is not only pursuing the necessity of servingthe existing training volume in Austria but also seizing further marketopportunities as a training provider. The simulator center will be extended,gaining three additional FFS spots and two more for flight training devices(FTD). In 2020, two of the three newly won simulator spaces will be used forthe Airbus A320 simulators coming from Berlin and one will initially remainfree for flexible future use.