A report from CAE predicts that the civil aviation industry will need 1.465 million additional professionals by 2034 to meet passenger demand. Training and upskilling is therefore of the highest priority if airlines and airports want to increase their capacity safely.
Lufthansa Aviation Training, part of the Lufthansa Group, has been training aviation professionals for more than 60 years. Boasting 50 full flight simulators across six dedicated centres, the company remains at the heart of training Europe’s pilots and cabin crews.
In an exclusive interview at Aerospace Tech Week 2025, we spoke to Managing Director Matthias Spohr about how Lufthansa Aviation Training is adapting for the future, including investments in digital twins.
Responsible for managing over 250 customers, Spohr sees digitisation as a key tool in offering a personalised service to every airline. Despite a strict regulatory environment, Lufthansa Aviation Training has been at the forefront of cutting-edge training technology. Remaining so is key to their strategy moving forward.
The big training devices we have are not 100% personalised to every company or airline we work with. Digital solutions give us the change to have a fully digital twin of how the airline is training, and of course to make training more realistic.
Investments of these kinds, costing in the millions of euros, represent a significant risk. Nevertheless, Spohr believes they are necessary if training is to keep pace with modern expectations. In the future, he believes aviation training will be much more decentralised, perhaps even progressing to a model where studying from home is more common.
Of course we welcome every customer that visits us, but it would be a lot better if we can decentralise and be where the crews are. That will produce savings on the airline side, and on the customer side there will be lower travel costs, more individualised training, and hopefully we can serve more customers.
The use of technology to enhance training and meet students where they are will be essential for aviation to educate and upskill the volume of workers growth forecasts require.
🎥 Watch the full interview to hear Matthias Spohr’s full thoughts on the evolution of aviation training.
Questions asked include:
- How do you see technology shaping training in the industry?
- What can you tell us about how you’re leveraging VR and digital twins?
- How does investment today drive cost savings in the future?
- What’s next in innovation in training?
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