India opens Kurnool flight academy as aviation training demand grows
Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu has inaugurated a Flying Training Organisation at Kurnool airport, describing it as the first such facility in Andhra Pradesh. He said India’s expanding aircraft fleet could require 25,000 to 30,000 pilots over the next 10 to 15 years.
India’s Civil Aviation Minister K. Rammohan Naidu has inaugurated the Orient Flights Aviation Academy at Kurnool airport, describing the facility as the first Flying Training Organisation in Andhra Pradesh. The inauguration took place on Saturday in the presence of Andhra Pradesh ministers B.C.
Janardhan Reddy and T.G. Bharath Gupta. Naidu said the opening was a historic development for the State’s aviation sector.
He said Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s objective was to develop Andhra Pradesh into an aviation hub, with Kurnool becoming a centre for aviation, drones and industry. The minister said the region’s proximity to Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu strengthened its strategic value.
Naidu said the government’s approach was to create a broad aviation ecosystem covering training, maintenance, ground operations and airport management, rather than focusing only on airport construction. He said Flying Training Organisations were essential to producing the workforce needed by the expanding sector. Kurnool’s operational airport and favourable weather, he added, gave the academy advantages over facilities operating from smaller landing strips with fewer services.
According to the minister, India currently has about 36 FTOs, which he said would not be enough to meet future requirements. With aircraft orders reaching approximately 1,600 and each aircraft requiring between 20 and 30 pilots, he estimated that the country could need 25,000 to 30,000 pilots over the next 10 to 15 years. He said approvals had been granted for 11 FTOs nationally.
In Andhra Pradesh, two facilities had been approved in Kadapa, while another was being developed in Rajahmundry. Naidu also referred to plans for a Drone City in Kurnool. He said drones would have expanding applications in defence, agriculture, commerce, law enforcement, land surveys and ground surveillance.
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