Airbus inks joint venture with Air India for pilot training centre at Gurugram

Hyderabad : In order to keep pace with the rapidly expanding civil aviation sector across the country and the requirement of pilots in the foreseeable future, French aerospace Airbus entered into a 50:50 joint venture with Tata Group-owned Air India to roll out a world-class pilot training centre at Gurugram in Haryana. The Tata Airbus Training Centre, which is expected to become operational by early 2025, is likely to offer A320 and A350 flight training to nearly 5,000 pilots over the next 10 years.

“The centre will be spread over 3,300 sq mts and will start with four A320 Full Flight Stimulators (FFS) and is equipped with 10 FFS, flight training classrooms, and briefing and debriefing rooms as part of the complete Airbus flight training device set up,” Airbus said.

It will offer courses approved by India’s DGCA and the European aviation safety regulator, EASA, Airbus said.

Under its collaboration with GMR Aero Technic, Airbus said it will provide training material such as trainee handbooks, an examination database, and online access to Airbus customised training modules, among others. Besides, it will also train GMR instructors and provide continual assessment of the training centre.

As the fastest-expanding aviation market in the world, India will need 41,000 pilots and 47,000 technicians in the next 20 years to support this growth. The pilot training centre with Air India and the maintenance training partnership with GMR are a testament to Airbus’ commitment to developing human capital, said Remi Maillard, President and Managing Director for Airbus India and South Asia.

Airbus is directly investing in and operating training capabilities to ensure that the growth of the Indian aviation industry is accompanied by adequate skilled manpower that is readily available, he added.