In three buildings with an area of ​​85,000 sq. Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos”its hangar will develop the Aegean sea which will include an aircraft maintenance center, flight simulators and crew training. To this end, the airline is investing 140 million euros over five to seven years to cover the “very large shortfall in air transport services in the country,” as Aegean’s president said at a press conference yesterday. Eftichis Vasilakis.

“This investment brings to Greece a range of Aegean ancillary services currently provided overseas, but also creates, as it develops, significant capacity to support aircraft and train third-party crews, placing the country and Athens International Airport on the international air travel map. support services,” he added. The funds to be placed include the cost of concession to the AIA until 2046 of construction facilities, their repair, functional and energy re-equipment, as well as the purchase of modern equipment for the technical base of the old Olympic aviation, which has been inactive for more than ten years.

Aegean’s hangar will provide support (eg maintenance) to the aircraft and training of crews and third parties, which will gradually form a new and distinctive line of business for the carrier.

The two activities will coexist at the airline’s new facilities. Aircraft maintenance, with the development and gradual completion of the technical base, with a final capacity of up to 10 major repairs and inspections of various types of aircraft. And there is a flight simulator and a crew training center. In total, the facility will house six state-of-the-art flight simulators that will cover the training needs of Airbus, ATR and Boeing aircraft, as well as sites for special training of flight attendants. Joining the same ecosystem will be the already existing Olympic Air engineering training school, as well as the already established pilot training organization Aegean.

The facility will house six state-of-the-art flight simulators.

“We are significantly strengthening the technical capabilities of our company and creating conditions for new high-quality jobs in Greece. Our goal is to bring the pilots and engineers of the future out of the Aegean. Let’s essentially become an executive incubator for Aegean and the country,” Aegean CEO Dimitris Geroyannis said yesterday.

“Our vision is being realized to create an aviation training center in Athens, which will allow, in addition to reducing costs, to improve the quality of training. In 2022 alone, we spent 7,500 summer-days abroad,” said Panagiotis Siskos, director of crew training at Aegean. The hangar, which is expected to be put into operation in the winter of 2023, will allow training 3,000 pilots, 10,000 crew members on an annual basis and in full dynamics and operation, offering 36,000 hours of simulation for the needs of Aegean. and third parties. Aircraft maintenance work is estimated at 500,000 man-hours per year.

It is also expected to create a total of 1,100 direct and indirect jobs over five to seven years, as well as contribute between 400 and 450 million euros to state revenue during the concession until 2046 on the territory. in the Aegean Sea through the “International Airport of Athens” (IAA).

The hangar will be the first green hangar in Europe with an area of ​​35,000 sq.m. Photovoltaic panels with a capacity of 3 MW.