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CAE confirmed that it has concluded the previously announced strategic partnership with Directional Aviation Capital (DAC), one of the largest, fastest growing, and most innovative corporate aviation service companies globally, as well as the acquisition of 50 per cent of the shares of SIMCOM Holdings Inc.
As part of this transaction, which was first announced on Aug. 29, 2019, CAE acquired, for approximately US$85 million, a 50 per cent stake in SIMCOM Holdings, Inc. In addition, DAC’s affiliated business aircraft operators, which include Flexjet, Flight Options, Flairjet, Sirio, Nextant Aerospace and Corporate Wings have entered into a 15-year exclusive training services agreement with SIMCOM and CAE. In all, these companies operate 175 business aircraft and have more than 80 aircraft on order.
“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,” said Marc Parent, CAE’s president and CEO. “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, Fla., which will house five new CAE full-flight simulators.”
“CAE’s investment in SIMCOM along with our new long-term partnership will allow us to realize our vision of creating industry leading training solutions for private aviation,” said Kenn Ricci, principal of Directional Capital. “CAE provides access to industry leading technology and training expertise which will allow us to better serve both internal and external customers.”
As announced on Oct. 22, 2019, SIMCOM has purchased five CAE 7000XR Series full-flight simulators (FFSs) and five CAE 400XR Series flight training devices (FTDs) from CAE. These FFSs include a Gulfstream G650, two Bombardier Challenger CL350s, one Embraer Phenom 300 and one Embraer Legacy 500. SIMCOM plans to install its new CAE training equipment in the new training centre which is under development in Lake Nona, Fla.
