New FTOs in Hubballi, Belagavi to propel aviation dreams in North Karnataka

The opening of the bid for one of the two flying training organisations (FTOs) at Hubballi airport is expected to benefit youths from North Karnataka, who aim to fly high in the aviation sector.

Ekvi Air, a Mumbai-based aviation flying training institute, has bagged the tender.

While officials at the Hubballi airport and management at Ekvi Air confirmed this to DH, the official confirmation and communication are expected to be completed in the next 15 to 20 days.

The FTO at Hubballi will be the second such commercial pilot training institute in the Kittur-Karnataka region.

The Belagavi FTO, which was approved in the first phase, is expected to start training students in June this year.

Belagavi airport director Rajesh Kumar Maurya said: “The Red Bird Aviation, a Delhi-based flying training institute, which has won the bid for Belagavi, has worked on the taxiway, while final touches are being given to apron and hangar facilities. It is expected to complete the work by June.”

The Hubballi and Belagavi airports have been granted permission to house two FTOs each.

Each FTO will be provided 5,000 sqmt of land on lease for 25 years to house their office, training and other facilities. Directors of both the airports said they have sufficient space to house the two FTOs.

While the Red Bird Aviation is expected to take 50 students per batch, the FTO in Hubballi will train 30 students per batch. The FTOs will provide training to students in the commercial pilot licence (CPL), private pilot licence (PPL), aircraft maintenance engineering (AME) and cockpit cabin crew.

The education requirement for cabin crew is 10+, while that for other courses is 12+.

Experts said the aviation sector has huge scope in the coming days as the sector is expecting a boom post-Covid.

“Currently, India requires 25,000 pilots, however, there are only 22,000 commercial pilots available. With more number of flights and airports coming up, the need for trained pilots will increase exponentially,” said Captain Sachin Bhane of Ekvi Air.

While currently, the fee structure for the course seems high, experts say the salary package of the pilots is also lucrative.

Ekvi Air is expected to charge Rs 30-35 lakh per student for a six-month course of CPL, while the fee for a six-month course of PPL is Rs 9 lakh. The cabin crew course, which would be spread over three months, will be charged Rs 2 lakh.

The AME course will be taught over two years at an estimated cost of Rs 8 lakh.

Capt Bhane said, initially, an officer pilot’s salary will be upwards of Rs 3 lakh a month, while that of a captain will be Rs 7 lakh a month.

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