With the signing of a new agreement between WestJet and flight training firm CAE, Calgary is set to a hub for advanced flight and aerospace training.

CAE, in partnership with Mount Royal University, will operate the 126,000 sq. ft. Alberta Training Centre of Excellence that will house eight expansion capable flight simulators, cabin trainers, and digital learning tools, and will allow WestJet to be the first customer to provide training for pilots and cabin crew on Boeing 737MAX, 737NG, 787 Dreamliner, and De Havilland Dash 8-400 aircraft.

WestJet is set to be the anchor training customer for CAE, but the facility will be available for training to other airlines and students when it opens in 2028.

That the announcement of the centre came on the back of a previous announcement of WestJet placing the largest ever Canadian order for Boeing aircraft was a happy coincidence, said WestJet Group CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech.

“These things are connected. It’s a bit of a coincidence that happened within one week, but all these things are connected because we are an airline that intends to grow over many, many years,” he said.

“If you grow, you need airplanes, and if you grow you need pilots and flight attendants. We are super happy to have CAE as our partner to build the most modern training center and biggest training center in Western Canada.”

The contract between WestJet and CAE is set to last 15 years.

Matthew Bromberg, CEO of CAE, said that what sets their firm apart is the largest network of training facilities around the world, and the highest quality simulators to ensure that pilot experiences are real before they become real.

“It’s not about the business deal, it’s about safety. That’s the mission of CAE. Over the next decade, the world will need 300,000 new pilots and 700,000 new crew members. That’s not a forecast, that’s a call to action and an opportunity, and we spend every day thinking about how to support that demand,” he said.

“Safety transcends borders. It transcends politics. It’s critical for everyone, and we’re thrilled to be here today.”

CAE currently operates a training facility for the Department of National Defence in Cold Lake, Alberta.

Bromberg said that while the two facilities, the one in Cold Lake and the Alberta Training Centre of Excellence, would be vastly different, the goal is the same: Safety.

“It’s ensures that the pilots can fly safely, or the military operators can conduct their mission safely,” he said.

Deal years in the making

The genesis for the new training facility came about as a result of a meeting between von Hoensbroech and Michel Azar-Hmouda, CAE Division President for Commercial Aviation, in Istanbul two-and-a-half years ago.

Azar-Hmouda said that when complete, the little over five-year journey from idea to opening will provide unparalleled opportunities for Mount Royal University aviation program students, but also create nearly 200 direct jobs for the city.

The Alberta Training Centre of Excellence is being built with funding from Calgary Airports, under a long-term lease from the City of Calgary.

CEO of Calgary Airports, Chris Dinsdale, said the airport authority wanted the centre to be built here in Calgary for the benefit of the aerospace industry, and the airport itself.

“We take a kind of a quarterbacking role in a lot of ways, because we’ll say, ‘OK, you know what? What is offshored or not cost-effective that we could bring here?'” he said.

He said that Calgary Airports, as a landholder, has, in a parlance, beachfront property much in demand for these types of projects, with YYC being a unique asset, but also that Calgary Airports has access to borrowing at cheaper rates than corporations.

“We can also get access to capital much cheaper than others, and we know that. If we can bundle projects together, then we can go after Canadian Infrastructure Bank funding below market, and we can pass on the economics so we can battle it out with the US and bring projects here,” said Dinsdale.

He used the example of the recent Lufthansa Technik deal, which Calgary was battling with Tulsa, Oklahoma, to show that private-public partnership between firms, Calgary Airports, and different orders of government bring wins to the city.

Having a wide spectrum of facilities and services means that airlines will choose not only to fly to Calgary but also to base their jets, and that means jobs and economic opportunities.

Next milestone on aerospace journey for Calgary

Brad Parry, CEO of Calgary Economic Development and the Opportunity Calgary Investment Fund, said that there was a belief four years ago that Calgary could become a leader in the Canadian aerospace sector.

“This has been a lot of hard work for the last four years to really start to bring everybody together to understand the benefits for the community, but also we need to put in place to become that centre of excellence across multiple pieces for the aerospace sector. Today is just one more,” he said.

“If you don’t have the talent, you can’t attract the companies. This piece for us, working with all of our partners together to get them to understand the bigger value proposition of making sure we have the right kind of talent to support the growth of this sector, was key for us.”

The announcement of the Alberta Training Centre of Excellence was another spoke in the hub of innovation that OCIF had been investing in.

“We built the road map part of our innovation strategy, understanding how do we establish this and so making sure we bring the right partners in play. Make sure we have our government partners in play, make sure every municipal partners in play, to really start to build this out,” said Parry.

“Collaboration is the key to this. I think you’re seeing everybody come together with a better understanding of what the future can pull for us.”

Having CAE come to Calgary, said Parry, was a litmus test for how seriously the marketplace was taking the nearly half-decade of aerospace efforts.

“People will pay attention to this,” he said.

“We’re the most connected mid-sized city in all of North America. We have over 110 direct flights that happen here, and that’s a big deal when you bring investors here, when you bring companies here, being able to access other markets very quickly and easy, whether that’s Europe, Asia, or whether it’s North America or South America—now with WestJet flights into Panama City.”

Parry and Dinsdale both said that further announcements in the aerospace sector would be coming soon.