Aviation India: Careers

Bangalore: There have been a series of announcements on aviation training centres, especially in the past two weeks.
Airbus will set up a school in Bangalore to train 1,000 pilots a year, Rajeev Chandrasekhar's Jupiter Aviation is planning a similar venture in Bangalore or Hyderabad, and aviation consultant Praveen Paul has set up his own school. Air Deccan has decided to start one with ATR.
The feverish aviation activity is reminiscent of the time when IT institutes mushroomed in the mid-'90s and bioinformatics and medical transcription schools took root at the turn of this century. The reason is not too far to seek: heavy pay packets with a commercial pilot licence. A rookie can start off with a monthly salary of Rs 3 lakh.
Most aviation schools charge Rs 10-12 lakh for an 18- or 24-month flying module. Considering engineering or MBA costs as much, students are convinced about the aviation option and most parents are willing to shell out.
11/02/07 Darlington Jose Hector/Times of India