Axis Aerospace & Technologies Pvt. Ltd (AAT) and Thales today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the creation of a Joint Venture (JV), to establish a world class flight training centre at Devanhalli Aerospace Park, adjacent to the new Bangalore International Airport.
The JV, the first of its kind in India, will initially have three Full Flight Simulators. The simulators will be housed in a modern, purpose built facility large enough to accommodate additional simulators to meet future market requirements. The JV will have AAT as a majority shareholder and the JV plans an initial investment of about USD 50Mn for the project.
Thales will supply the simulator equipment and provide management expertise in establishing and maintaining the centre. AAT will operate the centre locally. The initial simulators will have the capacity to train around 2,000 pilots a year.
According to Mr. Sudhakar Gande, Vice Chairman, Axis Aerospace & Technologies, “This JV with Thales, once formed will have the state of the art flight training facility in India. The facility and the simulators will be used by the pilots flying civil aircraft (Airbus & ATR) to undergo the mandatory training requirements specified by the DGCA. The flight training & simulator facility in India will help domestic airlines realize significant cost savings and better manage the scarce pilot resources which the aviation industry is presently facing due to growth in the aviation sector. Mr. Gande, further asserted, that this will be another milestone for AAT as one of the premier Aerospace Companies in India. He also added that AAT had a number of options including Hyderabad, Delhi, etc to house the JV. However Bangalore was chosen owing to active support of the Karnataka Government.
According to Mr. Francois Dupont – Managing Director Thales, India: “India is key market for us and we are excited to forge a strategic partnership with AAT who are very focused and passionate about the aerospace and defence simulation markets and will be working closely on various business initiatives together, including as an offset partner for our key Defence programme in India.
Marion Broughton, VP Thales Avionics, Training & Simulation commented, “Thales is pleased to be working with Axis Aerospace & Technologies Pvt. Ltd, extending our long-term relationship. The future flight simulation training centre located at Bangalore provides the opportunity to define new standards of excellence in the field of Flight Crew training bringing Thales state of the art RealitySeven technologies to the Indian market. I am confident that the Equipment and Services provided by Thales will help to support the future growth of Axis Aerospace & Technologies’
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