Air India's pilot training institute at Amravati to be biggest in South Asia, says Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis

AMRAVATI: Amravati was catapulted to India's aviation map on Wednesday with the first commercial flight landing from Mumbai on the 1,850m runway, which chief minister Devendra Fadnavis promised to expand to 3,000m after inaugurating the airport and flagging off Air India's Flight Training Organisation (FTO) demo flight.

Flanked by his deputies, Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, the CM said, the pilot training school at Amravati airport, which will become operational early next year, will be the biggest in south Asia. "This is PM Narendra Modi's gift to Amravati. The school will train 180 students every year and have 34 aircraft for training. This will be a growth impetus for western Vidarbha," he said. The airport at Belora, 15km south of Amravati city, was originally constructed in 1992 as a brownfield airport.

"Whenever a development project comes up in Amravati, my mother becomes happy as she hails from this city. I am indebted to Amravati," Fadnavis said, adding that PM Mitra Textile Park, Samruddhi highway, Wainganga-Nalganga river linking project and Dhanaji Deshmukh Krishi Samruddhi projects will expedite development in the drought-prone region.

Also present on the dais was Union civil aviation minister K Ram Mohan Naidu, Union minister of state Murlidhar Mohol, guardian minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule, water resources minister Girish Mahajan, state minister Akash Fundkar and Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) vice chairman and managing director Swati Pandey.

Naidu said Amravati airport's location was one of the best in the country and Air India had decided to set up its FTO here. "With 1,700 new planes set to be inducted shortly, a requirement for 30,000 pilots will be there. The Amravati FTO will play a big role," he said.

Union minister of state for civil aviation Murlidhar Mohol said the ministry aims to develop air connectivity across the country. “Today we have 160 airports and by 2027 we plan to take this number to 400, enabling a common man to realize his dream of traveling by air,” he said.

Congratulating MADC for setting up Amravati airport, DyCM Ajit Pawar urged Alliance Air, which runs flights between Mumbai and Amravati, to ensure uninterrupted service. He also appealed to the service operator to reschedule flight timings to morning hours.

He also assured to pursue with the Centre the demand for posthumous Bharat Ratna to Dr Panjabrao Deshmukh. DyCM Eknath Shinde said any project fructifies with political will.