Ryanair has officially launched its new €50m Aviation Training Centre in Santry, Co Dublin, where the airline will train over 5,000 new staff.

Located close to Dublin Airport, the new Training and Simulator Centre features three full motion simulators, one 737 MAX and two Airbus A320s, together with two fixed base simulators (one Boeing 737 and one Airbus A320). The Centre contains a state of the art cabin crew training and emergency evacuation device, as well as a specialist cabin fire training centre. It also includes over 15 large classroom training centres and five 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 five years.

The airline also announced an agreement with Airline Flight Academy (AFA) to be its exclusive cadet training partner as part of the official opening. 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 for Ryanair's next phase of post Covid growth and expansion.

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Speaking following the opening on Tuesday 14 September, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said: "After what has been an incredibly difficult 18 months, 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 five years. It's incredible growth and makes me really optimistic for the future. Congratulations to the team involved."

Ryanair's CEO Eddie Wilson added: "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 five years. Ryanair will create over 5,000 new jobs thanks to the expansion of our Boeing 737 fleet, with 210 MAX Gamechangers to be elivered 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."

The Leader of Seanad Éireann, Senator Regina Doherty has described this latest announcement as "exactly the boost that the sector needs".

"[The] announcement comes as welcome news to a sector that has suffered immensely from the pandemic where restrictions have limited and ceased air travel," Senator Doherty commented. "It comes at a time when restrictions are to be lifted at the end of October along with the success of the vaccine rollout where over 90% of people are fully vaccinated, therefore allowing more and more people to fly in and out of the country on holidays or work trips abroad.

"145,000 people rely on the aviation industry for employment in this country and these extra 5,000 jobs will not only benefit the lucky recipients, but also the wider economy around our aviation sector."