CAE ties up with IndiGo to supply simulator trained pilots

With an aim to cash in on the booming Indian aviation market, Canada-based simulator manufacturer CAE has tied up with low cost carrier IndiGo to train around 300 typerated, simulator trained pilots to the airline in the next five years.

"We have got into an agreement with IndiGo to train around 300 pilots for them from all our training institutes across the world," said Jeff Roberts, group president, Innovation and Civil Training Services, CAE. The contract would be worth more than $6 million in terms of training services. The pilots will be supplied from CAE's global network of 27 civil and military flight training institutes.

Going by its aircraft deliveries of around 10 per year, IndiGo would require 500 additional pilots for the next five years, of which 60 per cent will be accounted for by CAE. IndiGo currently has around 120 pilots, out of which 70 are expatriates.

IndiGo CEO Bruce Ashby said, "Over the next five years, CAE will be a substantial partner for the supply of pilots for our crew. Since most of them are typerated pilots, they will not have to undergo any initial typerating training after joining our airline."

While most of these pilots would be expatriates, several of them would also be recruited from Indian flying schools like the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uraan Academy (IGRUA) in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, for which it took management rights yesterday and the Rajiv Gandhi National Flying Training Institute (RGNFTI) in Gondia, Maharashtra, which will be jointly developed by CAE and the Airports Authority of India (AAI).