Airbus, Air India Establish Pilot Training Center in Gurugram

DALLAS — Airbus and Tata-owned Air India (AI) have joined forces in a 50:50 joint venture to establish a state-of-the-art pilot training center in Gurugram, Haryana.

Known as the Tata Airbus Training Centre, this facility will provide A320 and A350 flight training to approximately 5,000 new pilots over ten years. Spanning an expansive 3,300 square meters, the center will be equipped with ten Full Flight Simulators (FFS), flight training classrooms, and briefing and debriefing rooms, offering a comprehensive Airbus Flight Training Device setup.

Scheduled to commence operations in early 2025, the training center will initially feature four A320 FFS installations. All courses offered by the Tata Airbus Training Centre will be approved by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

In addition to this partnership, Airbus has also collaborated with GMR Aero Technic to provide Aircraft Maintenance Engineering training courses at their Hyderabad facility. Airbus will contribute training materials, including trainee handbooks, examination databases, online access to Airbus customized training modules, and the Airbus Competence Training (ACT) for the Academy media package. Furthermore, Airbus will train GMR instructors and continually assess the performance of the training center.

Airbus also aims to expand its industrial presence in the country, encompassing aircraft assembly, component manufacturing, engineering design and development, MRO support, pilot and maintenance training, and academic collaborations to nurture talent in the Indian aerospace sector. To this end, Airbus is also partnering with Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya (GSV) in Vadodara, the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur (IIT Kanpur), and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru.

Photo: Airbus