"OUR CORE HAS BEEN TRAINING AND WE STRIVE TO PRODUCE THE SAFEST AND BEST PILOTS," KHUSHBEG JATTANA, GENERAL MANAGER, SIMAERO INDIA

International pilot training and flight simulator provider, Simaero, recently announced that it will invest $100 million in India to train up to 5,000 pilots over the next five years.

The French aviation training services provider will bring in the investment in a phased manner to create training infrastructure in major Indian cities and install flight simulators to meet the growing demand for pilot training in India and the South Asian region. The simulator in the Delhi NCR facility is already under development phase and is expected to be ready by 2024 end or maximum by Q1 2025. Khushbeg Jattana, General Manager, Simaero India, in an interview with Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World, explains in detail about the upcoming training facility and Simaero’s vision towards creating a world-class sim facility in India.Excerpts:

Q: What are Simaero’s plans in India in terms of investment, infrastructure and strategy?

A: Simaero India was started in mid-2023 with the idea of establishing a simulation training centre in India, which will also be an Airline Training Organisation (ATO). It will be a DGCA and EASA-approved centre, similar to our ATO in Paris. The training centre will feature eight full-flight simulators and the building is expected to be ready by Q4 of 2024. It will be located 15 minutes from Delhi airport, right next to the NH8 highway. Initially, two simulators will be set up in this main facility: A320 NEO and the Boeing B737 NG.