New flying schools at Belgavi, Kalaburgi soon; AAI to invite bids

The Centre has cleared plans to set up six flying schools at less utilised airports, including at Belagavi and Kalaburagi, to meet the growing demand for pilots in the country.

Addressing a press conference here, Airports Authority of India Chairman Arvind Singh said the government has approved a policy to set up flying training organisations at six airports – Belagavi, Jalgaon, Khajuraho, Kalaburagi, Lilabari and Salem.

Over the next five years, India would require an estimated 9,488 pilots to meet the growing demand of its burgeoning civil aviation sector. Currently, India’s scheduled airlines employ over 9,000 pilots.

The civil aviation regulator DGCA issues about 700-800 commercial pilot licenses every year, of which 30% are given to pilots who have undergone training in a foreign country.

Singh said the new flying schools would help meet the growing demand for pilots and the government would offer incentives to them to set up shop here.

The flying school operators would be selected through a competitive bidding process and international players too would be allowed to participate.

These six airports are less utilised due to limited number of flight operations, but have adequate land resources to support flying schools.

“We will soon come up with requests for proposals for these airports.. We will offer a host of concessions such as reduced concessionaire fee and other charges that flying schools pay,” Singh said.

The decision to open new flying schools was taken on recommendation of a committee of experts chaired by former Indian Air Force chief Fali H Major.