The first Airbus C295 assembled in India has completed its first test flight from the Tata-Airbus final assembly line in Vadodara, bringing the aircraft closer to delivery to the Indian Air Force (IAF).
Airbus said the aircraft is the first of 40 C295s scheduled to be built in India under a contract signed in 2021 for 56 transport aircraft. The remaining 16 aircraft are being supplied directly from Airbus' production line in Seville, Spain.
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June 10, 2026
The flight follows the completion of assembly work at the Vadodara facility, which was inaugurated in October 2024 by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
India ordered the C295 to replace its HS 748 Avro transport aircraft, which entered service with the Indian Air Force in the 1960s.
According to Airbus, the aircraft involved in the flight is expected to be delivered later this year. The company said Indian suppliers are manufacturing components for the program across the country.
"The Indian Air Force congratulates the entire team behind the successful maiden flight of the first India-made C-295. The achievement reinforces India's growing aerospace capabilities and underscores the Indian Air Force commitment to fostering indigenous defence capability under the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat," said the service in a post on Facebook.
https://x.com/AirbusDefence/status/2064716740458639629
The C295 traces its origins to November 1996, when Spanish aerospace company CASA formally launched its development as an evolution of the CASA/IPTN CN-235 transport aircraft.
Compared with the CN-235, the C295 features a stretched fuselage, a 50% increase in payload capacity and more powerful Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127G turboprop engines.
