Air India taps Airbus, L3Harris for training unit
Air India is in talks with aerospace majors, including L3Harris and Airbus, as potential partners for its big crew training facility and will be disclosing more details in January, CEO and MD Campbell Wilson said in a recent interview.
People in the know said the companies will likely be making strategic investments in the $200-million facility.
«We are partnering with a couple of OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) to set up simulator training centres: Airbus, Boeing L3Harris. We will be talking a little more about that in January,» said Wilson.
He didn't elaborate on the nature of the partnership of investment from partners.
L3Harris, formed in 2019 by the merger of American companies L3 Technologies and Harris Corp, has business interests in segments including aerospace communications, integrated mission systems, space and airborne systems.
The training centre would be critical for training pilots to fly the large number of planes the airline will receive over the next five years, starting December.
In June, Air India placed a historic order for 470 aircraft from Boeing and Airbus. The airline will need over 5,000 pilots to fly these planes. India needs 1,700 pilots every year, half of which have to be captains.
It, however, produces just 200.
«We hopefully will be inducting the first group of cabin crew in January. It's a responsibility that we take very seriously, investing a lot of money in it.
