Flight Simulator Market Growth, Future Prospects & Competitive Analysis, 2018 – 2026

Market Insights 

Flight simulators provide an artificially re-created flight environment for both commercial and military purposes. The growing need for cost-effective pilot training is a key factor positively impacting the flight simulator market’s growth. This factor is set to increase its adoption in both military and civilian verticals. Thus, with consistently growing pilot training needs, the market would continue to exhibit promising growth over the forecast period.

Flight simulator manufacturers are focusing more on R&D activities to develop cost-effective and reliable solutions. Some flight simulators include Advanced Synthetic Environment (ADS), which provides a realistic environment with actual warfighting and weapon systems integrated into computer models. Moreover, technological advancements and the growing capabilities of AI are positively impacting the flight simulator market. Other factors influencing market demand for flight simulators include technological advancements such as 3D graphics, high-resolution displays, and real-time interaction.

The need to ensure aviation safety in flight handling, including situation awareness and skill competency, also promotes the flight simulation market’s growth. R&D efforts directed towards virtual reality and artificial intelligence advancements have resulted in highly naturalistic flight simulators, thus offering navigation and motion control mechanisms. Similarly, the development of realistic aircraft system logic coupled with ECAM displays is a significantly growing market demand for flight simulators.

High manufacturing and maintenance costs coupled with high complexity are some of the factors hampering the flight simulator market’s growth. One of the factors limiting market growth is manufacturers’ inability to keep up with the expanding aviation industry.

Based on applications, the flight simulator market is segmented into commercial and military segments. The commercial flight simulator (especially full flight simulator) segment is expected to witness incremental growth during the forecast period, owing to the rising training needs for commercial pilots.

North America led the flight simulator market in 2017, and it’s expected to continue its dominance throughout the forecast period. The Asia Pacific flight simulator market is also projected to grow owing to the high demand for air travel. Similarly, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa have positively contributed to the overall market for military flight simulators on account of the ongoing threat of terrorism. Moreover, China, on account of its recent territorial disputes with its neighboring countries, such as India and Japan, is expected to witness incremental growth in the procurement of military aircraft simulators in the years to come.

Major factors driving the market for flight simulators include:

• There is a rising need for new pilots in the aerospace segment.
• increasing adoption of virtual training to ensure safety
• Gradually increasing fuel prices
• Cost-cutting in pilot training

The global flight simulator market is segmented on the following basis:

Vehicle Class

• Fixed wing
• Rotary wing
• Unmanned Aircraft

Application

• Military application
• commercial application

Type

• Full Flight Simulator (FFS)
• Full Mission Simulator (FMS)
• Flight Training Devices (FTD)
• Fixed Base Simulator (FBS)

Geography

• North America
  • U.S.
  • Canada
• Europe
  • Germany
  • France
  • Italy
  • U.K.
  • Russia
  • Rest of Europe
• Asia-Pacific
  • India
  • China
  • Japan
  • Rest of Asia-Pacific
• Latin America
  • Brazil
  • Mexico
  • Rest of Latin America
• Middle East and Africa
  • GCC Countries
  • South Africa
  • Rest of Middle East and Africa

Key players identified for the flight simulator market include, but are not limited to:

CAE, Inc., FlightSafety International, Inc., Thales Group, Cubic Corporation, Boeing International Corporation Pvt. Ltd., Elbit Systems Ltd., Alsim Flight Training Solutions, and Bluedrop Performance Learning, Inc., among others.