Airbus and Air India have announced that they are forming a 50:50 joint venture to set up a pilot training center in Gurgaon, in the northern Indian state of Haryana.
The news was announced on the first day of Wings India 2024, taking place in Hyderabad, India. from January 18 t0 21, 2024.
This brand-new 3,300 sq. ft. facility will be equipped with at least 10 simulators as well as the related classrooms and briefing and debriefing rooms. These will be used to train pilots on the latest models of Airbus family aircraft.
It is expected that up to 5,000 pilots will pass through the new center within a decade of it opening in 2025.
Airbus has sold hundreds of aircraft in India over the last couple of years, to the point that there was even speculation in the media that the European manufacturer could be considering a local assembly line in the country. However, this is something that Airbus’ CEO, Guillaume Faury, later denied.
News of the training center comes just months after Air India placed an order for 250 Airbus aircraft (140 A321neo, 70 A320neo, 20 A350-900 and 20 A350-1000 aircraft) at the 2023 Paris Air Show in June 2023.