Airbus and India-based aviation training organisation Blue Angels Air have agreed to train Blue Angels cadets through the Airbus Flight Academy network. The programme will use Airbus’s Ab Initio syllabus, with the first cohort scheduled to begin training in 2027 at The Aviator Institute’s partner flight school in Monastir, Tunisia. Cadets will work towards EASA-standard qualifications before meeting India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation licence-conversion requirements.
The agreement gives Blue Angels Air cadets an international training pathway, with flight training delivered outside India. The organisations also intend to encourage more women to pursue pilot careers. They have not disclosed the cohort size, training capacity, contract value or agreement duration.
Airbus projects that the number of pilots in service in South Asia will rise from about 10,500 to more than 42,000 by 2045. It estimates that roughly 50,000 pilots will need to be trained over that period to support growth and replace retiring crew. These figures are Airbus projections.