Air India to set up flying training organisation in Maharashtra's Amravati

Air India (A-I) on Monday said it is setting up a flying training organisation (FTO) at Amravati in Maharashtra to produce pilots for planes the airline and other carriers are going to receive in coming years. This makes A-I the first airline to have its own FTO in India.

“The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)-licensed FTO at Amravati’s Belora airport will be operational by the first quarter of 2025-26 (FY26) and will target to graduate 180 commercial pilots every year," the airline said.

To meet the growing demand in the country's air travel market, Indian carriers have made four significant aircraft orders since last year. In February 2023, the Tata-run A-I group placed an order for 470 planes: 250 with Airbus and 220 with American planemaker Boeing. In June last year, IndiGo placed the world's largest aircraft order by signing a deal for 500 A320neo family planes from Airbus. In January this year, new airline Akasa Air placed an order for 150 B737 Max aircraft with Boeing. Three months later, IndiGo placed another order with Airbus for 30 A350-900 widebody aircraft.

 

The A-I FTO will have 31 single-engine aircraft and three twin-engine planes for training. "Air India has been awarded a tender by the Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) to establish and operate this FTO at Amravati for a period of 30 years," the airline stated. The training institute would be spread over 10 acres and would have a digitised operations centre, classrooms, hostels and its own maintenance facility.

Aviation consultancy firm CAPA India had last month stated that a shortage of pilots, cabin crew members and other key aviation sector employees is far more serious than estimated or visible. Moreover, Indian carriers would be adding 82 planes to their fleet in 2024-25 (FY25), taking the total number of commercial aircraft in the country to 812.

The country’s aircraft fleet is set to double by FY30. “It took the Indian aviation industry about 90 years from the time of first commercial flight, to reach a fleet-size of 700 aircraft. But the rate of growth is so strong now that carriers could add a further 600-700 planes in just the next five-seven years,” CAPA India said.

Vistara had in the March-April period cancelled 10 per cent of its flights due to sick leave taken by some pilots, amid alleged dissatisfaction with tight duty schedules and new salary packages offered to them as part of the airline's merger with A-I. In September last year, Akasa Air was forced to cancel about 24 daily flights as about 43 pilots abruptly resigned, without serving their mandatory notice periods, to join rival carriers.