The airline Ryanair has launched its B737 Gamechanger Crew Training Centre in Madrid, in which it has invested £130 million. Located near Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport, the new school has created 150 highly skilled jobs and has the capacity to train pilots, cabin crew and engineers.

The centre is already operational and is equipped with two Boeing 737-8200 Gamechanger full-motion simulators to provide initial training for pilots and cabin crew. It also has a fully equipped training cabin for practical crew training. Two additional full-motion simulators and two fixed-base simulators will be installed in 2026. This is the first B737 Gamechanger training centre in Spain.

Facilities in Spain
This new facility joins others that the airline has in Spain, such as the maintenance centres in Madrid and Seville. The hangar in the capital has seven bays and, according to the company, is one of the largest and most advanced facilities of its kind in Europe, in which it has invested £25 million and created 130 jobs.

Madrid is also home to a state-of-the-art 4,500-square-metre digital and innovation centre, Ryanair Travel Labs. This office employs more than 360 highly qualified technology professionals and has received an investment of £100 million since it opened in 2017. With these investments, added to those in its local fleet of more than 100 aircraft at 11 airports, the company claims to have invested £11 billion and created more than 10,000 direct jobs in Spain.

High-tech simulators
Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson describes the operation as its first investment “in high-tech simulators in southern Europe. This €130 million facility will create more than 150 highly skilled jobs and demonstrates Ryanair's ongoing commitment to Madrid and the Spanish tourism industry as we continue to deliver connectivity, employment and aviation excellence.”

The airline executive is proud “to continue investing in aviation excellence in Madrid as the region consolidates its position as one of Europe's leading hubs and Ryanair's main innovation centre in southern Europe”.

^{Photo: Ryanair}