20 Years of Experience

In May 2022, the entire Simaero team celebrated the group’s 20th Anniversary. 

Back in 2002, on 24th May, two French entrepreneurs Mr Eric RENAULT and Jean Marc PETIT established the Company in Dinard, in a region of Britany in France, by installing two Fokker Full Flight Simulators. They started with only 1 employee in a 16 square meters office. The Company has been named “SIM”.

In 2022, Simaero is a global provider of flight simulation, pilot training, and engineering services, with training centers in France, South Africa, and China. The group offers 30 full-flight simulators and provides services to over 200 civil and military clients from more than 65 countries.

KEY MILESTONES HAVE PAVED THE WAY TO SIMAERO’S SUCCESSFUL DEVELOPMENT OVER THE PAST 20 YEARS

• In 2008, the company won a contract to provide the French Air Force with pilot training and simulator maintenance on the KC-135 FFS. The KC 135 is a Boeing 707-derived mid-air refueler. This kickstarted the company’s rapid expansion, with strong growth from SIMAERO’s simulator maintenance division.
  
  
• In 2009 the training center in Johannesburg with 7 simulator bays has been opened.
  
  
• In 2010 the 8 bays Paris training center opened its doors to international clients.
  
  
• The multi-year contract was signed in 2010 with Eeasyjet to source and operate a dedicated brand new A320 Full Flight Simulator.
  
  
• In 2011, the above major investments increased the number of offered full flight simulators to 12 with the capacity to grow to 18.
  
  
• The multi-year contract was signed in 2011 for the Housing & Maintenance of an ATR 500 simulator in Paris.
  
  
• In 2012, the three contracts for the simulator upgrade were signed with the French Air Force for the KC-135 FFS, which is still operational today and under a maintenance contract with Simaero.
  
  
• In 2014, The growth of the training services division was accompanied by increasing international recognition, most notably with the certification of the Paris training center by the Chinese Civil Aviation Authority, allowing Simaero to provide training services to Chinese airlines.
  
  
• In 2017, the success of the ATR 72-500 contract led Simaero to sign with ATR another similar contract for the second simulator, an ATR 72-600 (TRU build).
  
  
• In 2018, Rive Private Investment acquired a majority stake in Simaero, the “ideal partner to support the growth of the company and reinforce Simaero’s ambition of becoming a global market leader” according to CEO Nicolas Mouté.
  
  
• Wisdom, the online learning system has been introduced and successfully approved for pilots training in March 2021.
  
  
• In 2021, a joint venture has been created with HNCA in China, for the main business line of simulator engineering and maintenance services.
  
  
• In 2021, an exclusive partnership was signed with Air France for marketing & sales of the capacity of Air France Simulators in Paris.
  
  

Strong of its 20 years of expansion and improvement, Simaero is now proud to offer a complete training package for many customers across the globe and continues to write the next chapter of its development.