Airbus Flight Academy Europe upgrades training fleet with more sustainable aircraft

Angoulême, 8 December 2023 – Airbus Flight Academy Europe, a 100% subsidiary of Airbus providing civil and military pilot training, has received its first batch of more fuel efficient, quieter Elixir training aircraft as part of its sustainable development strategy.

The first four aircraft, out of a total of eight to be delivered, are equipped with a cockpit specially designed for the Airbus Flight Academy, including two Electronic Flight Instrument Systems (EFIS), to prepare cadet pilots for the technologies in today's most advanced commercial aircraft.

“We are delighted to announce that, following the delivery of our very first Elixir aircraft, our cadets will now be flying this quieter, more fuel-efficient aircraft during the first flight phases of their training. This is a first step towards the gradual modernisation of the training fleet to reduce the environmental impact of our academy, says Jean Longobardi, Airbus Flight Academy Europe CEO & President”

Airbus Flight Academy Europe was established in 2006 to provide training facilities and services to support the initial, basic and advanced training of civil and military pilots. Airbus Flight Academy Europe has developed its own pilot training capabilities and has been delivering the Airbus Pilot Cadet Training Pme since 2019. Located in Angoulême, south-west France, the training centre offers all the necessary training facilities and assets to provide the best training conditions for our cadets.

The Airbus Pilot Cadet Training Programme is open to high school graduates over 18 years old worldwide. Candidates will undergo online and on-site screening tests before being eligible for training which will include 800+ hours of ground school, and 200 hours of practical (flight and simulator) training. Around 80 cadets are trained at the Airbus Flight Academy Europe each year.

Airbus Flight Academy Europe owns a fleet of Diamond DA42, Cirrus SR20, Grob 120 A-F and now four Elixir aircraft, all dedicated to the cadet training. In addition, Airbus Flight Academy Europe operates on its site and customer sites a fleet of two FNPT II qualified simulators to offer the best training solutions to student pilots.

To find out more about the Airbus Flight Academy Europe, click here

For more information on Airbus Training Services/Flight Academy visit 

https://aircraft.airbus.com/en/services/train/airbus-flight-academy

About Elixir aircraft

Elixir Aircraft, a company based in La Rochelle with more than 80 employees, was created in 2015 to meet the challenges of the French light aviation sector. The objective of the French SME: to make safer, more economical, more environment-friendly  and more versatile aircraft. Complexity is the current reason why older generation aircraft suffer from failures (technical or human) and are expensive to operate (fuel consumption and maintenance). Elixir Aircraft employs a technology from the world of competitive sailing, the Oneshot Carbon, to simplify the structures. More simplicity means fewer failures, therefore more safety, but also fewer maintenance, and lower costs (estimates of 40€/h of fuel and maintenance). At the end of 2021, Elixir Aircraft opened a new production site in order to internalize the entire production of carbon parts. Find out more at https://elixir-aircraft.com/en/ 

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