Image credit: Airbus
Airbus Flight Academy (AFA) and The Aviator Institute (TAI) have announced a strategic partnership to deliver the Airbus ab initio pilot training program in Tunisia. The agreement, unveiled at the Dubai Airshow 2025, marks Airbus’s first such collaboration with a flight academy in Africa and the Middle East.
The partnership will see TAI—formerly known as Safe Flight Academy—align its operations, instructors, and facilities in Tunis and Monastir with Airbus’s global training standards. The initiative is a direct response to the pressing need for new pilots, with Airbus forecasting a demand for 633,000 new pilots worldwide over the next two decades, including 89,000 in Africa and the Middle East.
“This collaboration allows us to expand our ability to serve both airline customers and self-sponsored aspiring pilots,” said Laurent Negre, Vice President of Customer Services for Airbus Africa and Middle East. “It also enables customers to recruit and secure future pilots early in their development, contributing to safer and more efficient global operations.”
The first intake of cadets is scheduled for March 2026, with plans to scale up to training more than 80 pilots annually. TAI will leverage its fleet of Diamond DA40 and DA42 aircraft, advanced simulators, and existing infrastructure to support the standardized Airbus curriculum.
The partnership underscores a growing effort to localize and expand high-quality aviation training in regions experiencing rapid growth in air travel, aiming to create a sustainable pipeline of skilled pilots for airlines across Africa and the Middle East.
TunisianMonitorOnline (NejiMed)
