06. Apr 2022
European Flight Academy: Lufthansa Group flight school launches training of pilots
- After more than two pandemic years: In the summer of 2022, the European Flight Academy will commence training operations
- Time was put to use for a realignment of the flight school: Focus is on the quality of the training and the maximization of job prospects
- Training at the flight school will open the doors into Lufthansa Group cockpits
- Sustainability: Entire training will be carbon-neutral
Starting in the summer of 2022, the European Flight Academy will be “ready for take-off”: The Lufthansa Group flight school is going to take up operations with the courses for the two-year airline transport pilot training. The training had to be terminated at all European Flight Academy locations in March 2020. With this relaunch, Lufthansa Group continues to show its commitment to its own pilot training and secures young professionals as well as the highest standards of quality for the Group airlines in the long term.
Lufthansa Aviation Training GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lufthansa Group and operator of the European Flight Academy flight school, took advantage of the crisis to redesign and modernize the previous training concept. Maintaining the principle of ab-initio training was a deliberate decision in this context. The new concept focuses on the quality of the training and on maximizing the job prospects for graduates.
In the future, the training at the European Flight Academy will result exclusively in obtaining the EASA-certified ATP license. This license opens up a variety of opportunities for a job entry within Lufthansa Group and outside it. Additionally, almost every airline worldwide requires this license and the corresponding training preceding it.
The theoretical part of the roughly 24-month training takes place in Bremen/DE or Zurich/CH; locations in Goodyear/USA, Grenchen/CH, and Rostock-Laage/DE, respectively, are intended for the practical training. In order to safeguard the highest standards of quality and safety, the practical training in Europe will be performed in a modern, standardized training fleet with aircraft by the manufacturer Diamond. In the USA, a modern fleet of Cirrus SR20 training aircraft will continue to be used.
The advantages of the European Flight Academy training include the unique prospects of making it into the cockpit of a Lufthansa Group airline: In the framework of a campus model, graduates will be provided support in applying for new cockpit jobs with Lufthansa Group after completion of the training. They will also be granted priority access to these jobs vis-à-vis applicants with other training backgrounds. What is more, because of the recognized high quality of the training, they will also be highly sought-after by other airlines.
In the future, the number of training spots available at the European Flight Academy will be independent of demand as well as limited. Additionally, the training is set up as a self-pay model, as is internationally customary. The training costs in Germany currently amount to Euro 105,000 and will be invoiced step by step in line with the training progress. A variety of financing models is currently being implemented in cooperation with partners. The training at the school is also eligible for federal student aid pursuant to the “BAföG” (German Federal Law on Educational Support).
Sustainability: With this relaunch, the European Flight Academy joins Lufthansa Group in committing to a reduction of CO2. Starting in the summer of 2022, the training as a whole and thus all training flights will be carried out in a climate-neutral way. This will be achieved initially by compensating a 100% of CO2 emissions, analogous to the Compensaid program of Lufthansa airlines. In the medium term, new approaches to climate protection will be taken, among them extended use of flight simulators, test operations of electrical training aircraft (“e-flyers”), and use of synthetic aircraft fuel.
Comprehensive information on the European Flight Academy and the main topics of training, application, costs, and job prospects can be found on the website www.european-flight-academy.com. The completely redesigned website was launched last Monday. It is now possible to apply for new courses at the European Flight Academy. (Please note: Student pilots who were affected by the termination of the training two years ago have already been able to register with priority.)
Says Matthias Spohr, managing director of Lufthansa Aviation Training GmbH: “We are very happy that we will start this summer and that we will be able to welcome student pilots at our European Flight Academy locations. The past two years have been quite a challenge for all involved. We used this time to put a lot of things under review and to modernize the training concept, to make it more efficient, and to adapt it more to market requirements. In doing so, it was our priority to maintain our high and globally recognized standards of quality in selecting and training student pilots. This benefits both future student pilots and the Lufthansa Group airlines. Our decades of experience as a Lufthansa Group flight school with a unique connection to active airline operations complement these aspects.”
About Lufthansa Aviation Training
Lufthansa Aviation Training GmbH (LAT) is one of the leading companies in the field of flight training with its competence in the training and further education of cockpit and cabin personnel at ten training locations. The company employs around 1,000 people at different training locations. The registered office is at Munich Airport. The customer portfolio includes over 250 nationally and internationally renowned airlines, including the Lufthansa Group airlines. Lufthansa Aviation Training has almost 200 training devices within its training fleet, including aircraft for pilot training, flight simulators of all common aircraft types for pilot training and emergency and service mock-ups for the training of flight attendants.
Further information on Lufthansa Aviation Training and the European Flight Academy is available at www.lufthansa-aviation-training.com and www.european-flight-academy.com.
Press contact
Lufthansa Aviation Training
Dirk Sturny
Head of Marketing & Corporate Communications
Suedallee 15
85356 Munich Airport, Germany
e-Mail: dirk.sturny@lat.dlh.de
Website: www.lufthansa-aviation-training.com
Media Center: www.lufthansa-aviation-training.com/mediacenter
