Hamburg Center of Aviation Training announced the opening of its new, state-of-the-art facility May 26. HCAT is a partnership network of aviation companies, associations, universities and regulatory authorities that provide advanced vocational training in avionics/electronics and modern production processes.

The three key players, Airbus, Lufthansa Technik and Hamburg Airport, along with more than 300 small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as a variety of scientific and technological institutions, will contribute their expertise," said HCAT.

The 3,000 sq. m. building houses classrooms that simulate aircraft sections, such as a 16-m. long fuselage section from an Airbus A300 to provide a direct exchange of know-how between teaching, research and real-world practice, it said. For example, Airbus and Lufthansa Technical Training can teach students and trainees about repair and joining techniques, using real aircraft structural elements and modern fiber composites in HCAT's new workshops.

"HCAT is an important and innovative infrastructure project... for Hamburg as a whole. It is an important building block in the successful efforts of the Aviation Cluster Hamburg Metropolitan Region as a Leading-Edge Cluster," said Governing Mayor of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg Olaf Scholz.