Airbus has opened a new training centre for commercial pilots and maintenance engineers in the National Capital Region of Delhi, India.

The facility was established to support the growth of India’s civil aviation sector and meet the demand for new pilots.

According to an Airbus estimate, India needs more than 25,000 new pilots over the next 20 years.

The centre features an A320 flight simulator to enable full-flight simulation and will also offer programmes on aircraft procedure training, computer-based classroom training, and standard pilot transition training.

An ‘Upgrade to Command’ course at the centre will help improve skills and maturity of co-pilots during their transition to commandership.

“Providing a robust training infrastructure to support our customers’ businesses is a priority for us.”

Airbus India and South Asia president and managing director Anand Stanley said: “Providing a robust training infrastructure to support our customers’ businesses is a priority for us.

“One pillar of our customer services mission is proximity to the customer, and another one is safety. In that respect, having a training centre located in the country is proof of our commitment towards both.”

The company already operates a training centre in Bengaluru. The facility was established in 2007 and has so far trained more than 4,500 maintenance engineers.

Airbus Commercial Aircraft Training Services head Michael Chemouny said: “The new training centre in India is part of our worldwide development plan to address the growing demand for pilots.

“Over 500,000 new pilots will be required worldwide over the next 20 years. Our increasing footprint also aims at providing service closer to airline customers.”

The development marks a number of investment and recent activity in the Indian aviation space.

French company Safran signed an agreement to build a plant in the state of Telangana to manufacture parts for the LEAP turbofan engine.

Separately, Thales has launched a global engineering competence centre (ECC) in Bengaluru to play a major role in job creation and skill development in India.

The ECC will primarily focus on building software and hardware capabilities in the areas of civil and defence businesses.