O'Leary pointed out during Thursday's ceremony related to the launch of the investment that thanks to the new training center worth EUR 130 million (PLN 600 million), it will be possible to train up to 500 pilots, cabin crew, ground crew and administration members per day. The complex will be equipped by the carrier with modern technology, including 10 innovative flight simulators – eight hydraulic and two stationary. These will include the first Boeing 737-8200 “Gamechanger” simulators in Poland. Thanks to the center, 150 new jobs will be created for aviation industry trainers.
O'Leary: The new investment is another element of cooperation with Krakow
“Over the next two years, we will turn this potato field into one of the most modern training centers in Europe,” announced the president of Ryanair at the construction site. He added that the first part of the project with six simulators should start operating in the first half of next year, and the entire project will be completed in the following months.
According to him, the decision to build a simulator and training center in Krakow confirms the special importance of Poland and the region of Central and Eastern Europe for the Irish carrier. This will be the seventh Ryanair facility of this type in Europe and the first in our part of the continent.
As O'Leary emphasized, the new investment is another element of cooperation with the city of Kraków, the Lesser Poland Voivodeship and the Kraków Airport, where Ryanair has its largest operational base in the region and is the largest carrier with 55 percent. share of the air transport market. This season, 11 of his planes are stationed there.
The Irish carrier's venture “is very important for the development of the city”
The new building will be built in the immediate vicinity of the Krakow airport, a few hundred meters from the passenger terminal. An important element of the investment – indicated the representatives of the carrier and the city – will be the joint construction of a new road that will connect the training center and the passenger terminal and improve traffic between them.
Deputy Minister of Sport and Tourism Ireneusz Raś assessed that the Irish carrier's project “is very important for the development of the city, the entire Małopolska region, but also Ryanair itself.” “We show that good projects can be implemented beyond political divisions,” added Raś, noting the harmonious cooperation of the central, city and voivodeship authorities in its preparation.
“Kraków is a reference point for the tourism economy in Poland, and this investment is a signal and an incentive for its further development,” noted the Deputy Minister of Sport and Tourism.
The Irish airline Ryanair currently operates from 13 airports in Poland, six of which have operational bases with a total of 42 aircraft. According to the data presented, this year the carrier plans to serve over 18.5 million passengers in our country, 10 percent more than last year.
author: Rafał Grzyb
