India – Chimes Aviation Academy (CAA), which operates two flight training bases in India, has reported a record 35,000 flying hours in 2025, underlining a year of scaled execution and reinforcing its role as one of the country’s largest domestic contributors to pilot supply.

• CAA crossed 35,000 annual flying hours in 2025, exceeding the previous year’s output by more than 6,000 hours, reflecting a step-change in operational throughput across its two training bases.

• The academy was ranked No. 1 Flying Training Organisation in India in the DGCA’s first official FTO rankings, based on a multi-parameter assessment covering safety, compliance, operational performance, and student support.

• 185 CPL cadets completed training during the year, positioning CAA as the largest domestic CPL contributor to India’s pilot training ecosystem in 2025.

• The academy marked six years of continuous cadet training with IndiGo, highlighting the maturity and stability of the CAA–IndiGo Cadet Pilot Programme.

• Nearly 160 IndiGo cadets were inducted during the year, supporting the airline’s ongoing fleet and network expansion.

• CAA launched the CAA–IndiGo Flying Instructor Programme (FIP), inducting its first batch in February and onboarding 17 instructors during 2025, with several already surpassing 500 flying hours.

• Flight instructor strength was more than doubled compared to 2024, supporting higher utilisation and increased cadet intake.

• Continued fleet expansion lifted annual training capacity to approximately 250 cadets, aligned with long-term growth planning.

• A new Ground Training School was inaugurated, increasing ground training capacity by around 30%, improving end-to-end training flow.

Statement

• “While these numbers are easy to put on a slide, the real story sits behind them. 2025 belongs to the instructors who fly and train day after day, the CFI’s/Dy CFI’s who mentor and standardize, the maintenance/CAMO teams who keep aircraft serviceable, the flight operations, admin and accounts teams who quietly ensure that cadets are rostered properly, funds get realized on time, and that everything just keeps working! These are the true champions of CAA; the people who deal with daily operational realities without ever losing sight of safety.” stated Aniruddha Bose, VP Operations at Chimes Aviation Academy.

Source: Aniruddha Bose (Chimes Aviation Academy)
Photo Credit: Chimes Aviation Academy