AAI, Canadian firm in aviation JV

CABINET DECIDES

The Union Cabinet today approved the setting up of a flying and aviation training institute as a joint venture between the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Canada-based aircraft major CAE. As part of the JV, an aviation training institute and an aerodrome will be set up at Gondia in Maharashtra.

In order to meet the growing shortage of pilots in the country, the Cabinet also gave its approval to give the management contract for India's premier flying institute Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Udaan Akademi (IGRUA) to CAE.

"This would help in better management of the Akademi in a more professional manner," Finance Minister P Chidambaram said after a Cabinet meeting here today.

The number of pilots currently churned out by the IGRUA stands at 40 while after upgrade it will go up to 100. This number will further increase to 200, it is expected.

While the capital expenditure for developing the IGRUA and the Gondia aerodrome will be government-funded, the expenses for the aviation institute at Gondia will be totally funded by the AAI-CAE joint venture through debt and equity.

The ministry has approved Rs 21.82 crore for upgrade of infrastructure of the IGRUA while another Rs 43.2 crore will be allocated for purchasing 10 single-aisle and one multi-engine aircraft and simulators among other training equipment for the institute. An amount of Rs 80 crore has been allocated for the aerodrome at Gondia. The aviation training institute at Gondia will entail an investment of Rs 113.48 crore.

Currently, there are 21 functional flying institutes in the country. According to industry figures, India currently requires 4,540 pilots while the total number of available pilots is 3950.