Taking to the skies

TRAINING: Airlines are setting up their own academies to tide over the shortage of staff.

While the Indian civil aviation sector is on a high "� all set to witness the addition of 300 aircraft and entry of a dozen new airlines over the coming three to five years "� there is a major area of concern. India will require over 3,500 pilots and many more engineers and cabin crew to fill the widening gap.

Domestic airlines, however, appear to have found a solution. To tide over the increasing shortage of human resources in the civil aviation sector, Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and Air Deccan are already in the process of setting up aviation training academies.

According to industry analysts, average salaries of a pilot is about Rs 1-1.5 lakh per month while engineers will get Rs 80,000 - Rs 1 lakh per month. For others "� including security personnel and despatchers, the salary is in the range of Rs 20,000-50,000.

"Interestingly, these facilities can be used for other airlines and industry houses. These centres are not just for pilots but cater to the demand of other sectors too," says an industry analyst.

Deccan Aviation, which runs the low-fare and low-cost carrier Air Deccan, is also planning a residential training centre at Bangalore.

The centre will have facilities including aircraft simulators (for ATR and Airbus aircraft) to train pilots, engineers, flight dispacthers, cabin crew and security personnel.

The facilities will include a hostel and a recreation and health club for personnel who will be required to reside about six to eight weeks while undergoing training.

Jet Airways has plans for a new integrated training centre in Mumbai to provide training facilities to pilots, inflight crew, airport staff, security personnel and ground staff.

"We are getting the facilities and teaching aids required for the training centre. We are scouting for the land for the proposed training centre. Once it is ready we will start the training centre", says a senior Jet Airways executive.

Meanwhile, Kingfisher Airlines has also firmed up plans to set up a major training centre at Thane near Mumbai for pilots and engineers.

The training centre will have two simulators designed for Airbus and ATR aircraft. These simulators can used for training aircraft maintenance engineers and cabin crew.

Says Kingfisher Airlines CMD Vijay Mallya: "We are very serious about starting training centre. This should be ready by next year".

The government too is also setting up a new state of the art and world class National Flying Training School at Gondia (Bisri) in Maharashtra.

Chennai-based Orient Flight School Additional Director Anand Jacob Verghese, says: "The advantage of these in-house academies is that candidates will be absorbed easily into airlines. Moreover, the quality of training will be improved in accordance with airline demands."