Exclusive Heads of Training Forums Return to EATS

When did you last have two uninterrupted hours with dozens of peers facing identical challenges? No interruptions. No competitive posturing. Just frank conversation about what's actually working, what's failing, and what keeps you awake worrying about regulatory compliance, budget constraints, and workforce planning.

That's exactly what EATS 2025's exclusive Heads of Training meetings deliver. 

Running concurrently on Tuesday, 4th November from 16:00-18:00 at the Estoril Congress Centre in Cascais, separate forums for pilot training leaders and cabin crew training managers create protected space for the conversations that simply don't happen anywhere else in aviation.

The Pilot Training Leaders' Forum

The Pilot Heads of Training workshop addresses the challenges keeping airline training managers awake at night: navigating increasingly complex regulatory landscapes, implementing genuinely effective Competency-Based Training and Assessment (CBTA) programmes, and determining which AI applications deliver operational value versus which merely consume budget.

The roundtable format ensures every participant contributes to, and benefits from, collective expertise drawn from airlines and training organisations across Europe and beyond. With regulatory requirements diverging across jurisdictions, CBTA implementation producing mixed results across operators, and AI hype obscuring practical applications, the value of unfiltered peer insight has never been higher.

The invitation-only structure, with deliberately limited seating, ensures participants can speak openly about operational realities, implementation failures, and lessons learned without concern about competitive disclosure or vendor relationships.

The Cabin Crew Training Leaders' Forum

The Cabin Crew Heads of Training meeting recognises that whilst job titles vary, the fundamental challenge remains constant: delivering the highest possible training standards within operational and budgetary constraints.

This year's session features structured discussion led by João Cunha-Rêgo, Cabin Crew Training Manager with TAP Air Portugal, who will present a SWOT analysis of CBTA implementation two years after adoption. His operational perspective on what's working, what's failing, and what requires recalibration offers invaluable insight for organisations at various stages of CBTA implementation.

The second session focuses on instructor standardisation, a perennial challenge as cabin crew training organisations balance consistency with operational flexibility across multiple bases, instructor cohorts, and regulatory requirements.

Crucially, the meeting operates as a peer-driven forum. Participants are encouraged to bring their own topics and questions, ensuring discussions address real operational challenges rather than theoretical constructs. Training leaders with specific topics they wish to raise can contact Anna Mellberg Karlsson at amellbergkarlsson@gmail.com ahead of the meeting.

In an industry where training leaders often operate in relative isolation, constrained by competitive sensitivities and internal politics, these forums provide rare opportunities for genuine knowledge exchange.

The roundtable format, combined with invitation-only attendance, creates conditions for honest dialogue about what's actually working versus what merely looks good in compliance documentation. Make sure you are part of the conversation!