Air India has ordered over 30 light training aircraft for a flight-training school being established in Maharashtra next year.
The school is being set up in Amravati and is set to open by the second half of 2025.
Air India has ordered 31 single-engined Piper aircraft as well as three twin-engined models from Diamond Aircraft.
The aircraft will start arriving next year.
Air India is expanding its fleet having placed an order for 470 Airbus and Boeing jets last year, and recently enhancing the agreement with a further 100 Airbus aircraft.
It says it is looking to “cultivate a pipeline of pilots” to support the expansion.
Air India’s flight school is being created at Amravati’s Belora airport, which lies midway between Delhi and Bengaluru. The airline expects it will produce 180 commercial pilots annually.
The carrier’s aviation academy director, Sunil Bhaskaran, says the school is an effort to build a “self-reliant ecosystem” of crews – not just for Air India but the country’s broader aviation industry.
Air India adds that the Amravati complex will include digitally-enabled classrooms, an operations centre, and maintenance facility.
