Citing “skill India”, Airbus partners GMR for training maintenance crew
By Vikas Gupta
19th January 2024
Citing its commitment to “Skill India”, Airbus has entered into a 50:50 joint venture with the Tata-owned Air India to launch what it calls a “world-class pilot training centre” in Gurugram, Haryana.
The Tata-Airbus Training Centre will offer A320 and A350 flight training to some 5,000 new pilots over 10 years, the company stated on Thursday. The 3,300 square metres centre will be equipped with 10 full flight simulators (FFS), flight training classrooms and briefing and debriefing rooms as part of the complete Airbus Flight Training Device setup.
In addition, the income from these training facilities will count towards Airbus’ offset liabilities from high value contracts, such as the one for 56 C-295 light transport aircraft.
The training centre is due to be operational starting in early 2025 with the initial installation of four A320 FFS. The Tata Airbus Training Centre will offer courses approved by Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
As the fastest expanding aviation market in the world, India will need 41,000 pilots and 47,000 technicians in the next 20 years to support this growth.
Airbus has also partnered with GMR Aero Technic to offer Aircraft Maintenance Engineering training courses at the latter’s facility in Hyderabad. Airbus will provide training material such as trainee handbooks, examination database, online access to Airbus customised training modules and Airbus Competence Training (ACT) media package.
Airbus will also train GMR instructors and provide continual assessment of the training centre.
“Airbus is directly investing and operating training capabilities to ensure that the growth of the India aviation industry is accompanied by adequate skilled manpower that is readily available”, said Rémi Maillard, chief of Airbus India and South Asia.
Airbus says these announcements are part of its ambition to develop a holistic ecosystem in India, where the company is expanding its industrial footprint with aircraft assembly, component manufacturing, engineering design and development, maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) support, pilot and maintenance training as well as academic collaboration to foster human capital.
Airbus is also collaborating with the Vadodara-based Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya (GSV), Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur (IIT Kanpur) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, to groom talent for the Indian aerospace sector.
