Air India plans to establish largest pilot training facility in South Asia

Dhaka: Air India announced its plans to establish a Flying Training Organisation (FTO) at Amravati in Maharashtra. The first FTO operated by an Indian airline is expected to be operational at Amravati’s Belora Airport by Q1 2026.

The pilot training facility will be capable of instructing 180 commercial pilots every year. The move, backed by the Maharashtra Airport Development Company, is aimed at improving pilot training capacity in India, said a release.

About the development, Campbell Wilson, MD and CEO, Air India, said, “The FTO at Amravati will be a significant step towards making Indian aviation more self-reliant, offering more opportunities to the youth in India to fulfill their ambitions of flying as pilots.”

“The young pilots coming out of this FTO will fuel Air India’s ambition of becoming a world-class airline, as it moves ahead in its transformation journey.”

The facility will feature 31 single-engine aircraft and three twin-engine aircraft for training. It will also boast a training institute spread over 10 acres, along with digital classrooms, hostels, digitalised operations centre and its own maintenance facility.

Earlier in 2024, Air India announced the opening of a training academy in Gurugram, spread across 600,000 square feet, considered to be the largest in South Asia so far.