TLI Staff
New Delhi: In a move aimed at making India a global flying training hub, as many as eight new flying academies would be set up across various locations in the country.
The proposed training schools would be set up under the liberalised Flying Training Organisation (FTO) policy of the state-owned Airports Authority of India (AAI). The new pilot-training schools will be set up at Belagavi, Jalgaon, Kalaburagi, Khajuraho and Lilabari.
An official statement from Civil Aviation Ministry said that once the new academies become operational exodus of Indian cadets to foreign FTOs would be stopped.
“Additionally, these FTOs will also be designed to cater the flying training requirements of cadets in India’s neighbouring countries,” it said.
Public sector AAI had invited bids for opening the flying schools in November 2020. The award letters were issued on 31 May 2021 to winning bidders namely Asia-Pacific, Jetserve, Redbird, Samvardhane and Skynex.
The bid parameters set for prospective firms included familiarisation with aviation safety aspects, regulatory mechanisms, experience in the field of training pilots on manned aircraft, the availability of equipment, trainers etc.
“To make FTOs attractive for bidders, AAI reduced the minimum annual rental significantly to Rs 15 lakhs. Furthermore, the concept of airport royalty was scrapped to make these ventures business-friendly,” the press release noted.
AAI successfully managed to finalise the bidding process amid the challenging period caused due to the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic. The state entity said that five airports for flying training academies were chosen carefully as they have minimal disruption due to weather issues and civil or military air traffic.