Air India announced plans to establish a flying school in Amaravati, Maharashtra, with an investment of ₹200 crore. The school aims to graduate 180 pilots annually and is slated to open by June 2025. Located at Belora Airport, the school will be the first of its kind operated by an Indian airline, featuring 31 single-engine Piper Archer aircraft and three twin-engine Diamond 72 aircraft.
The flying training organisation is a joint initiative with the Maharashtra Airport Development Company Ltd, which awarded Air India the tender to build and run the school. Spread over more than 10 acres, the state-of-the-art facility will include digitally enabled classrooms, a digitised operations centre, and its own maintenance facility. Campbell Wilson, Air India’s CEO, expressed that the graduates from this FTO will play a crucial role in Air India’s goal of becoming a world-class airline.
The collaboration between MADCL and Air India is expected to significantly boost Maharashtra’s economy, generating over 3,000 new aviation sector jobs and numerous allied opportunities in skilling and entrepreneurship. This initiative is projected to contribute over ₹1,000 crore to the state’s GDP over the next decade. Additionally, the new flying school will enhance India’s flying training infrastructure, addressing the current gap that forces 40 per cent of aspiring pilots to train abroad due to insufficient local facilities and quality training options.
