flydubai announced plans to open a $56 million Full-Flight Simulator (FFS) and training facility set to be fully operational by January 2025.
The announcement was made at the Dubai Airshow on November 14, 2023. The Dubai-based carrier also said that the facility will be created in agreement with Canadian simulator and training manufacturer CAE.
Construction work for the 38,000 sq. ft facility had already commenced. Located on the grounds of the flydubai campus in Dubai, it will be home to six simulator bays which combined, has a capacity of more than 43,000 training hours a year. The simulator bays can also be extended to other airlines in the future.
flydubai said that the full-flight simulator and training facility will lead to cost savings over the first 10 years of its operations.
The facility will primarily cater to flydubai’s pilot training needs as well as cabin crew training.
“Over the last 14 years, flydubai has been on a tremendous growth trajectory that has seen the carrier evolve and innovate to become the airline it is today. The USD 56 million investment in the new training facility marks another milestone in our success story and reflects our unwavering commitment to operational efficiency and excellence,” Ghaith Al Ghaith, Chief Executive Officer at flydubai said in a press statement.
Nick Leontidis, CAE’s Group President, Civil Aviation, said: “We are happy to be building on our longstanding relationship with flydubai and supporting their growth with the four state-of-the-art B737 MAX full-flight simulators and the flight training device included in these agreements. CAE has been flydubai’s training partner since they began operations, and we look forward to providing our expertise and solutions as they expand and develop a new training center in the region.”