Story ID: GPairbustraining01042018
Airbus Acquires U.S. Training Center 
By: Gregory Polek
Caption: Plans to double training capacity in Denver over the next few years
Word Count: 280
Airbus has acquired the Strategic Simulation Solutions flight training center in Aurora, Colorado, marking the opening of its first such facility in the western U.S., the manufacturer announced Thursday. The center primarily supports Frontier Airlines and carries what Airbus calls significant room for growth. The company said it plans to at least double capacity at the facility in the next few years.   

“This is another major step forward in our ambition to grow services around the world,” said Airbus head of services Laurent Martinez. “Our global services forecast predicts a need for 122,000 new pilots in the Americas by 2035, representing 23 percent 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.”

Before the acquisition Airbus provided training to the North American market primarily from its Miami, Florida-based training center. Over the past two years Airbus has expanded its training capacity for customers in the Americas with the addition of training centers in Mexico City and in Campinas, Brazil. Globally, Airbus expanded its training network more than threefold in the past three years, growing from five locations in 2015 to 17 locations today. 

“We will hold steady in our ambition to provide the most state-of-the-art, top-quality training to our customers, and to continue expanding our global training capacity at its current pace,” Martinez said.  

The Aurora training center now features two A320 family level-D full-flight simulators for training Frontier Airlines pilots on the airline’s all-Airbus fleet. Airbus plans to add more simulators at the Denver facility this year to address anticipated increased demand for training.