In the lexicon of regional airline training, European carriers confront a classic story line. As regional jets reached the market in the early 1990s, training facilities couldn’t meet the needs of launch customers. As demand increased, training centers began adding equipment, alleviating the problem to a large degree. Ultimately, the availability of training capacity has become at least as important as aircraft performance or acquisition cost at the equipment-selection stage. After roughly a decade of slow development, the training industry in Europe appears to have found its stride, churning out capacity at an unprecedented rate as market forecasts predict 5 percent annual traffic growth during the next 20 years and double the number of airplanes during that period.
“Times are changing,” said François Montel, training manager for France’s Regional Airlines. “From January to August we had to rent an ERJ-145 flight simulator at the St. Louis FlightSafety center. A flight instructor had to stay in the U.S. four months because we couldn’t find enough slots in Europe. Today, all is going well and it’s easy to find slots.”
