Flying lessons

EDUCATION: A plan for training senior executives in the Indian aviation industry gets off-ground.

The fast growing aviation industry in India not only requires trained pilots but management expertise too. That is a gap which the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) plans to bridge by bringing its knowledge centre into the country.

The CAPA Knowledge Centre will offer management development programmes for senior functionaries in the aviation industry (CEOs, COOs, CFOs, CTOs).

"We want to create a strong Indian management in the aviation industry. There is a critical need for world-class knowledge in India," says Kapil Kaul, CEO, Indian subcontinent and Middle East, CAPA.

With the growth of the domestic aviation industry projected at an impressive 25 per cent per year for the next five years (against a global average of 20 per cent), CAPA is keen on ensuring that "decision makers here have access to continuous knowledge as well as regular updates on worldwide trends".

The knowledge centre will focus on all aspects of aviation (like fleet purchase programmes, leasing, capital generation and financing options) in four capsules a year stretching for four days each, and will be targeted at different streams of the senior-most executives in the aviation sector in the region.

CAPA has been active in India over the last three years and has done over 12 consultancy projects with low cost carriers (LCCs), flying schools, banks, international scheduled carriers, as well as airports. As a result, CAPA has dedicated in-house specialists on each aviation subject.

The first "master class", as they call it, will be organised in India in January 2007 and will start with a session for CEOs of LCCs in the region. A similar project will start through their Singapore office (for the Far East) in August 2006 with the first session on "financial challenges facing airport operators".

Hong Kong (for the China market) will get the knowledge centre in September 2006.