5,000 New Pilot And Cabin Crew Jobs To Be Created, Over Next 5 Years As Ryanair Returns To Growth

Ryanair, Europe’s No.1 airline, today (Tues, 14^th Sept) announced a new agreement with Airline Flight Academy (AFA) at the opening of a brand new €50m Aviation Training Centre in Santry, close to Dublin Airport. This new Training and Simulator Centre contains 3 full motion simulators, 1x 737 MAX and 2x Airbus A320, together with 2 fixed base simulators (1x Boeing 737 and 1x Airbus A320). Additionally, this new AFA Centre contains a state of the art cabin crew training and emergency evacuation device, as well as a specialist cabin fire training centre. The AFA Centre contains over 15 large classroom training centres and 5 individual pilot briefing/de-briefing rooms. Access to these new facilities will enable Ryanair to recruit and train over 5,000 new pilots, cabin crew, engineers and ground operations professionals over the next 5 years – jobs which will be necessary for  crew to operate Ryanair’s 210 new Boeing 737 Gamechanger aircraft, which will enable Ryanair to grow annual traffic to 200m p.a. by 2026.

Ryanair has chosen Airline Flight Academy to be its exclusive cadet training partner. Under this agreement, Airline Flight Academy will operate and run this new €50m Training Centre, and will play a central role in recruiting the next generation of aviation professionals, including pilots, cabin crew, engineers and ground operations professionals  for Ryanair’s next phase of post Covid growth and expansion.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said:

“After what has been an incredibly difficult 18months, today’s announcement is a real vote of confidence in the airline industry as it rebuilds after the pandemic. This €50m investment in a new training centre and the creation of 5,000 jobs across Europe, will mean fantastic opportunities for pilots, cabin crew, engineers and ground ops professionals over the next 5 years. It’s incredible growth and makes me really optimistic for the future. Congratulations to the team involved.”

Ryanair’s CEO Eddie Wilson said:

“We are honoured to welcome Tánaiste Leo Varadkar to the opening of the Airline Flight Academy Training Centre here in Santry. We have invested over €50m in this state-of-the-art Training Centre, and our agreement with AFA will deliver over 5,000 highly trained pilots, cabin crew, engineers and ground operations professionals over the next 5 years. Ryanair will create over 5,000 new jobs thanks to the expansion of our Boeing 737 fleet, with 210 MAX Gamechangers to be  delivered over the next 5 years which will enable Ryanair to grow to carry 200m passengers p.a. by 2026.

The AFA team have been a recruitment and training partner of Ryanair for many years, and we look forward to continuing to invest in this agreement, which has to date, enabled Ryanair to recruit and train over 18,000 highly qualified aviation professionals.”

IAA Aviation Regulator / CEO Designate, Diarmuid Ó Conghaile said:

“We welcome the expansion of Ryanair’s training operations. It is another positive sign for the future of aviation in Ireland and the support services required. The investment in a training and simulation centre will create jobs for highly skilled workers, which will benefit the broader Irish aviation sector as it re-bounds from the crisis of the past 18 months.”

Director AFA, Francis Farrell said:

“Airline Flight Academy are honoured to have been selected as Ryanair’s exclusive cadet training partner here in Ireland. We are excited to be chosen to operate and run this new €50m Aviation Training Centre in Santry, and have committed to delivering Ryanair over 5,000 highly trained pilots, cabin crew, engineers, and ground ops professionals using these state of the art facilities in Santry. Ireland has always been a centre for high quality aviation professionals and AFA’s agreement with Ryanair will create 5,000 new jobs, both here in Ireland and across Europe as Ryanair continues to recover and grow post Covid.”