The Airbus Flight Academy Europe has taken delivery of its first Diamond DA42-VI while a firm order for another two DA42-VI has been signed by CEO Jean Longobardi. Diamond Aircraft Industries Austria sales and marketing director Amila Spiegel says: “We are very proud that our Austro Engine jet-fuel powered DA42-VI is the first choice MEP trainer for Airbus Flight Academy Europe and we welcome them to the Diamond Aircraft family. The modern glass cockpit G1000 NXi, which is equivalent to the equipment used in modern airliner cockpits, reduces transition times significantly and the ability to fly similar approaches and procedures as bigger aircraft makes our aircraft perfect for ATPL trainings.”

In order to meet the high market demand for cadet pilot training in Europe (94,000 new pilots over the next 20 years), Airbus has decided to open its own flight academy and extend its training services offering by adding ab initio to its portfolio.

Leveraging cross-divisional synergies, the Airbus Flight Academy Europe, based in Angoulême, France, will use Airbus standardised instructors to deliver the ab initio pilot cadet training programme approved by EASA at the end of 2018, complementing the intermediate and advanced training phases that are already available and provided in the existing training network on 17 sites worldwide.

Nearly 1,000 DA42s have been delivered since its introduction more than 14 years ago, outselling all other certified piston twins combined. The all-carbon composite DA42s are equipped with efficient, clean and reliable jet fuel Austro engines AE300, Garmin G1000 NXi with three-axis automatic flight control system and optional electrically driven air conditioning. The multi-engine trainer is in operation at many leading flight schools, such as European Flight Academy (Lufthansa Aviation Training), Lift Academy and FTE Jerez.