CAE 7000XR
CAE 7000XR Series full-flight simulator. Credit: CAE Inc.

Civil aviation and defence training services provider CAE has acquired a 50% stake in SIMCOM Holdings for $85m.

Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, SIMCOM is a privately owned learning institute that uses ‘realistic’ simulator-based training. It operates 47 simulators and flight training devices.

CAE has also closed the previously announced 15-year strategic partnership with private investment firm Directional Aviation Capital (DAC).

DAC’s business aircraft operators Flexjet, Flight Options, Flairjet, Sirio, Nextant Aerospace and Corporate Wings signed the exclusive training services agreement with SIMCOM and CAE.

The two parties initially entered a definitive agreement in August. The stake acquisition is also part of the agreement.

Under the agreement, CAE also agreed to form a joint venture (JV) with Volo Sicuro, a subsidiary of DAC.

DAC operators own a total of 175 business aircraft with more than 80 aircraft on order.

CAE president and CEO Marc Parent said: “Our partnership with Directional Aviation Capital and our investment in SIMCOM further strengthen CAE’s position in the business aviation training market in support of the worldwide in-service fleet.

“We are very pleased to become the training partner of choice for Directional Aviation and its affiliates with our 15-year exclusive training services agreement. Our customers and SIMCOM customers will have access to a new state-of-the-art training centre, currently under development in Lake Nona, Florida, which will house five new CAE full-flight simulators.”

SIMCOM has also acquired five CAE 7000XR Series full-flight simulators and five CAE 400XR Series flight training devices.

The new CAE training equipment is likely to be deployed at its training centre in Lake Nona, Florida. The centre is currently under development.