From left to right: Campbell Wilson, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director Air India; Stan Deal, President and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes; N. Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Sons and Air India; Stephanie Pope, President and CEO of Boeing Global Services; Nipun Aggarwal, Commercial & Transformation Officer, Air India.
Boeing will invest $100 million over two years to help grow India’s pilot pipeline.
First announced in a joint statement from U.S. President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the investment will fund pilot training-related infrastructure and programs. It follows on the heels of Boeing’s largest aircraft order in South Asia, a finalized agreement from Air India announced June 20 for 190 737 MAXs, 20 787s and 10 777Xs plus options for 50 MAXs and 20 787s.
“Boeing is proud to be playing a key role in the rapid expansion of India’s commercial aviation market, and in the mission readiness and modernization of the nation’s defense forces,” Boeing CEO David Calhoun said. “We support Prime Minister Modi’s Make in India initiative, with more than 5,000 people in India pursuing high-quality careers doing innovative work on the Boeing team.”
Noting that Air India’s order for up to 290 Boeing jets would support more than one million American jobs across 44 states, the June 22 joint statement from the White House characterized the OEM’s investment as “supporting India’s need for 31,000 new pilots over the next 20 years.”
Within that timeframe, South Asia’s fleet is projected to have the world’s fastest annual expansion rate, at more than 7%, according to Boeing’s recently released 2023 Commercial Market Outlook. It forecasts India to account for more than 90% of the region’s passenger traffic.
The country’s air transport industry made waves at this year’s Paris Air Show, including a “historic” order from IndiGo, for 500 Airbus A320 family aircraft.
Of the 1,282 orders, commitments and options announced at Le Bourget and tracked on Aviation Week Network’s Fleet Discovery, 1,056 come from Indian carriers.
Boeing’s investment joins several announced in India this year, including a new logistics center to focus on supporting regional airline customers, an agreement with GMR Aero Technic to establish a new Boeing Converted Freighter (BCF) line in Hyderabad, and an agreement signed with CAE under which it will become the first authorized training provider of Boeing’s Competency-Based Training and Assessment (CBTA) pilot training curriculum—beginning in India. In February, Boeing launched its first Global Support Center in the country, based in Gurgaon.
“Our growing investments in India underscore not only the strength of Boeing’s partnership with the nation, but also the positive trajectory of the broader U.S.-India economic relationship,” Calhoun said.
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