Tata Group-owned Air India on July 1 said it will set up a training institute at Amravati in Maharashtra with an aim to train 180 commercial pilots annually.

“The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)-licensed Flight Training Organisation (FTO) at the Belora Airport will be the largest such institute in South Asia and become operational from the first quarter of next financial year,” Air India said in a statement.

According to the airline, the upcoming facility will be the first by any Indian airline in the country and will have 31 single-engine aircraft and three twin-engine aircraft for training.

Air India said it has got the tender from the Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) to establish and operate the facility for 30 years.

“The FTO at Amravati will be a significant step towards making Indian aviation more self-reliant and offering more opportunities to the youth in India to fulfil 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,” said Campbell Wilson, Managing Director and CEO at Air India.

“The facility, which will be developed on 10 acres, will have digitally-enabled classrooms, hostels on a par with global academies, a digitised operation centre, and a maintenance unit,” Air India said.

“The FTO will be operational by Q1 FY26 and offer aspiring pilots an opportunity to undergo training with world-class curricula on a par with best-in-class global schools,” said Sunil Bhaskaran, Director, Aviation Academy, Air India.

The collaborative initiative between MADC and Air India will not only boost the economy of Maharashtra by focussing on more than 3,000 new employment opportunities within the aviation sector, but also create employment in multifarious allied activities in skilling, technical and small entrepreneurial ventures culminating in an impressive contribution of more than ₹1,000 crore to the State’s GDP over the next decade,” said Swati Pandey, vice-chairman & Managing Director of MADC.