Aerodrom Ljubljana has received the corporate mandate to operate the newly-established Fraport Aviation Academy. This new venture will offer, through its cooperation with Fraport’s Fire Training Center (FTC), the Center for Protection and Disaster Relief of the Republic of Slovenia and the Faculty of Organizational Sciences of University of Maribor, a wide range of courses on protection, rescue and intervention in emergency situations to the employees of Fraport Group and other interested individuals and companies from around the world.
The Civil Aviation Agency of Slovenia extended the Approval Certificate for work in the field of Aircraft, Passenger and Baggage Handling, Aircraft and Airport Firefighting – with endorsements. All the training courses, which are presented in detail on the new Fraport Aviation Academy website, are based on standards and recommendations from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the European Safety Agency (EASA) and the American National Association for Fire Safety (NFPA). Aerodrom Ljubljana has been a member of the latter organization since October 2016.
Fraport Aviation Academy will, together with its highly-qualified partners, offer a wide range of skills and knowledge to participants from the entire Fraport Group and other airports from around the globe. The training will be implemented in collaboration with the Center for Protection and Disaster Relief of the Republic of Slovenia, the Faculty of Organizational Sciences in Kranj and Fraport’s Fire Training Center (FTC). Both basic and advanced training for airport firefighters will be implemented at educational centres at Ljubljana and Frankfurt Airports by qualified instructors from Aerodrom Ljubljana and other Fraport Group airports. There are currently an additional six firefighters from Aerodrom Ljubljana training to become instructors at Fraport’s Fire Training Center. Demanding fire training courses, such as extinguishing internal fires and responding to accidents involving hazardous materials, will be held at the Protection and Disaster Relief of the Republic of Slovenia in Ig, near Ljubljana.
Additional theoretical knowledge in the field of crisis management will be offered in collaboration with the Faculty of Organizational Sciences in Kranj, a founding member of the University of Maribor. The Faculty and Aerodrom Ljubljana will work together on the preparation of new study programmes on crisis management, and also collaborate in the education of the students of Fraport Aviation Academy and the Faculty. Mutual cooperation is also foreseen in some other areas, such as integrating students into the practical training, involving experts visiting Fraport Aviation Academy in the educational process of the Faculty, and mutual cooperation in projects and research, as well as other activities.
The construction of the new Fire Training Center will be carried out at Aerodrom Ljubljana in the first half of next year. Realistic training will be held on the training range with an A320 aircraft and helicopter mock-up, where airport firefighters will be able to gain the necessary skills to deal with fire in and on the aircraft, and with aircraft which have skidded off the runway. The investment in this new facility, which will be inaugurated in 2018, is estimated at €3.9 million.
The Academy’s wide range of training will be presented by its representatives and partners at the largest exhibition of security and fire protection, the INTERSEC fair in Dubai, on 22-24 January 2017. This fair attracts more than 31,000 visitors from 128 countries each year.