Ryanair has invested €50 million in a new aviation training centre in Dublin, as it plans to take on 5,000 more employees over the next five years.
The budget airline said the new centre will help it to recruit and train more than 5,000 new pilots, cabin crew, engineers and ground operations professionals to help it reach its target of 200 million passengers a year by 2025.
Before Covid-19, it had reached about 149 million a year.
As well as flight simulators, the centre has a cabin crew training and emergency evacuation device, and a specialist cabin fire training centre.
Ryanair has chosen Airline Flight Academy to be its exclusive cadet training partner, tasked with running the new training centre.
Deputy prime minister [Tánaiste] Leo Varadkar was at the opening and 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.”
Eddie Wilson, Ryanair chief executive, added: “Ryanair will create over 5,000 new jobs thanks to the expansion of our Boeing 737 fleet, with 210 MAX Gamechangers to be delivered over the next five years which will enable Ryanair to grow to carry 200 million passengers a year by 2025.”