GURUGRAM: Air India, India’s leading global airline, has placed an order for 34 trainer aircraft as it prepares to start training cadet pilots at South Asia’s largest Flying Training Organisation (FTO) coming up in Amravati, Maharashtra by the second half of 2025, post regulatory approvals.

The order includes 31 single-engine aircraft from Piper Aircraft in the United States and 3 twin-engine aircraft from Diamond Aircraft in Austria.

The FTO is a leap forward in Air India’s commitment to bolster its training infrastructure as part of its Vihaan.AI transformation program and cultivate a pipeline of pilots as it expands its fleet, becoming self-reliant.

The trainer aircraft, due for delivery starting in 2025, are equipped with glass cockpits, G1000 avionics systems, and Jet A1 engines that will ensure advanced training for aspiring pilots.

The FTO is coming up at Amravati’s Belora airport and will target to graduate 180 commercial pilots every year.

“The new FTO is a strategic move to exponentially expand our training infrastructure and our commitment to building a self-reliant ecosystem of qualified pilots for both Air India and the Indian aviation industry. With this order of 34 trainer aircraft to support South Asia’s largest Flying Training Organisation, we are delighted to be playing a part in building the aviation infrastructure India needs as one of the world’s fastest-growing aviation markets and to support the government’s vision for an Atmanirbhar Bharat,” said Sunil Bhaskaran, Director, Aviation Academy, Air India.

As part of its commitment to invest in aviation training, Air India opened its new Aviation Training Academy, spread over 600,000 sq ft, the largest in South Asia, in Gurugram. It is also the first airline in India to announce the setting up of an FTO that will complement Air India’s commitment to power India’s aviation ecosystem in the coming years.

At the FTO in Amravati, Air India is developing a state-of-the-art training institute over 10 acres, with digitally enabled classrooms at par with global academies, hostels, a digitized operations center, and its maintenance facility to elevate operational efficiency. The FTO is curated to deliver best-in-class training with high safety standards.

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NEW DELHI: Air India, India’s leading airline and a Star Alliance member, announced plans to hire over 4200 cabin crew trainees and 900 pilots in 2023 as the airline adds new aircraft and rapidly expands its domestic and international operations.

Earlier this month, Air India announced a mega order to purchase 470 aircraft from Boeing and Airbus to support its growth plans. It has already announced plans to lease 36 aircraft of which two
B 777-200 LR have already joined the fleet.

The cabin crew, who will be recruited from around the country, will undergo a 15-week program imparting safety and service skills and will be coached to exemplify the best of Indian hospitality and Tata group culture. The training program will include extensive classroom and in-flight training at the airline’s training facility in Mumbai as well as familiarization flights.

Notably, between May 2022-February 2023, Air India hired over 1900 cabin crew. Over 1,100 cabin crew have been trained in the last seven months (between July and 22-January’23), and in the past three months, approximately 500 cabin crew have been released for flying by the airline.

Commenting on the hiring plans, Sandeep Verma, Head – of Inflight Services said, “With a sizeable aircraft order that was announced earlier in the month, more flights on international and domestic networks and re-alignment of domestic routes with AIX connect, cabin crew will play a decisive role in shaping the present and future of the Air India group. The addition of fresh talent will also accelerate the pace of cultural transformation at Air India, which is an integral part of our Vihaan.AI transformation program. We are also looking to step up hiring more pilots and maintenance engineers.”

Candidates interested in a career as Cabin Crew or Pilot at Air India can apply at cabincrewcareers@airindia.com and pilotcareers@airindia.com respectively.

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The batch of 215 cabin crew and 48 pilots, all Indian nationals, received their wings following extensive training, and are now cleared to operate as fully-qualified crew.

Selected from more than 13,000 candidates from around the country, the cabin crew trainees passed through a 15-week program imparting safety and service skills and were coached to exemplify the best of Indian hospitality and Tata group culture. The training program included extensive classroom and in-flight training at the airline’s training facility in Mumbai as well as familiarisation flights.

The new pilots, comprising 40 men and 08 women, completed their training at Air India’s Hyderabad training campus and will commence operating on the Airbus A320 fleet. Besides the two graduating batches, more than 59 new pilots are in various stages of training to support the airline’s ambitious growth plan.

Commenting on the development, Mr. Campbell Wilson, CEO & Managing Director, of Air India, said, “We are delighted to welcome these new Air Indians to the team, handpicked from India’s growing pool of talent. Air India is hiring across all business areas, and from all parts of the country, to support our transformation and ambitions growth plans. Attracting and developing enthusiastic and capable people is an important and crucial part of our Vihaan.AI transformation program”

The reinforcement in the cabin crew will support the continued expansion of the network and fleet at Air India. The company has raised the frequency of flights between key cities in the domestic sector and has also announced direct flights between Indian cities and key global destinations like Doha, San Francisco, Vancouver, and Birmingham. Further, Air India is set to commence direct flights from Delhi to key European cities like Milan, Vienna, and Copenhagen, and from Mumbai to New York, Paris and Frankfurt.

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