Aviation India: Careers

Brisbane: Alteon Training, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Boeing Company announced today the launch of its Multi-Crew Pilot License (MPL) beta test in Brisbane, Australia.
MPL is a new pilot license developed by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as an alternative to the traditional approach of training and licensing pilots. It is designed specifically to prepare pilots for their job at an airline. This competency-based training program prepares pilots more effectively and efficiently through increased use of modern simulation and crew based training.
Alteon has been working closely with ICAO, airlines and industry partners to be the first to test this solution that will help address the industry's need for more pilots.
"The world's airlines will need more than 17,000 pilots each year for the next twenty years to fill the seats of the airplanes on order," said Marsha Bell, Alteon vice president of First Officer Programs. "The world needs a better training solution for those pilots. Our beta test will explore efficient and effective improvements in pilot training."
Alteon currently offers training services at nine locations in the Asia-Pacific region, including Brisbane and Melbourne, Australia, Seoul and Gimpo, South Korea; Kunming and Tianjin, China, Tokyo, Japan, Singapore and Mumbai, India.
26/02/07 PRNewswire/ Earthtimes.org

An explosive demand for more aircraft and pilots to fly them in India led to a big coup for San Diego Flight Training International at Montgomery Field.
The school has signed a contract with an Indian firm to train at least 100 students, most of whom will be hired by regional airlines in that fast-developing nation.
The deal Phil Thalheimer, owner of the school, struck with Apace Consultants of Bombay was months in the making.
Thalheimer’s school isn’t the only one benefiting from an increase in overall international airline traffic.
SAA Flight Training in El Cajon is also enjoying an up tick in students from India.
Pernilla McMahon, marketing manager for SAA said at her school she expects it will train about 100 Indian students, or about half the year’s total.
While there are about 20 flight training schools in the area, only a handful are authorized to accept foreign students. One aspect of accepting foreign students is the necessity of obtaining a visa, usually an M-1 visa, which requires in-depth background checks conducted by the Transportation Security Administration. The process takes six weeks, McMahon said.
Kit Darby, president of Air Inc., a career information service in Atlanta for airline pilots, said a surge in nations buying planes and expanding service has resulted in huge demand for commercial pilots.
26/02/07 Mike Allen/San Diego Business Journal, US

New Delhi: Pilot shortage and the lucrative pay packet are attracting people from myriad backgrounds to fly commercial aircraft. And it’s not just air force and naval officers who are ready to make a career switch but also dentists, architects, software engineers, flight pursers et al who are looking at flying as a new career.
According to industry experts, the average age of such professionals joining a flying school is 35 years. Sample this. SpiceJet has a former truck driver from Canada flying one of its planes. Another one is a former chartered accountant.
Jet Airways recently recruited a ground staff engineer who took pilot training and is a full time pilot on its rolls now. Air India, on the other hand, has a flight purser who now doesn’t serve food but is inside the cockpit flying the aircraft.
Similarly the common man’s airline Air Deccan has BPO executives flying its aircraft. It also had an ex merchant navy professional as its pilot who later joined some other airline.
According to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) Indian aviation industry needs 500 pilots each year whereas only 200 pilots are churned out every year by flying schools.
Starting salary of a co-pilot is around Rs 1 lakh per month. And for a captain it can go up to Rs 5 lakh per month.
The average duration of a pilot training course in India is around two years. Whereas those who go overseas can complete their training in 6 to 12 months.
25/02/07 Vishakha Talreja/Economic Times

New Delhi: CFM International is in the initial stages of setting up an Aircraft Engine Training School in India to provide advanced maintenance courses for the CFM56 engine that powers Boeing 737s and a majority of Airbus A320 series aircraft. The school -- its fourth after ones in the U.S, Europe and China -- will be based on the same model CFM used to set up the school in China a decade ago.
"We bring in the hardware instructors and the training material for the school and our partner supplies the logistics, like the building and accommodation," said Paul-Andre Chevrin, vice president, CFM International India. The company, in talks with a few Indian companies, expects to announce the joint venture soon.
As in China, the company plans to train around 500 Indian students per year, and Chevrin expects this figure to increase steadily given the explosion in the aviation market.
"The purpose of the training center for mechanics and engineers is to give them hands-on experience. Presently, they (airlines) steal mechanics from each other," said Chevrin.
CFM expects the school to open by mid-2008.
While Chevrin did not indicate the amount to be invested, he said CFM would bring in two engines fully dedicated to training.
23/02/07 Neelam Mathews/Aviation Week, US

Under the special pilot training scheme launched by Air India, courses at flying schools abroad will last from six months to a year, after which the trainees would get a licence.
AI would then train them on its simulators before allowing them to fly as co-pilots in the medium-sized Boeing 737-800s and A-310s. With more flying experience, these pilots would make the transition to bigger aircraft.
Airline experts say the existing pool of CPL holders has been lapped up and now airlines have to look at foreign pilots to meet the demand.
AI alone will 100 new pilots every year for the next seven years. After the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines, the mega national carrier's requirement would be much more.
"The monthly salary for pilots is between $6,500 and $12,000," said a senior official.
23/02/07 Times of India

New Delhi: The acute shortage of pilots in India could turn out to be a boon for young science and engineering graduates who dream of flying high. Air India has decided to select 150 such students every year after an aptitude test and send them for pilot training to Europe and Australia.
Air India has tied up with banks so that these students get loans of Rs 15-18 lakh required for the training, which the airline would refund if they work for five to six years with the national carrier.
First-class science graduates from physics, chemistry and maths (not biology) streams and engineers are being eyed under this policy. ‘‘For the first batch of 150 students, we have shortlisted 400 graduates. Pilot aptitude, medical and psychometric tests would be conducted to make final selections. They would be sent to three flying schools in Europe and Australia,’’ AI CMD V Thulasidas told TOI. As the tie-ups increase, more students could be inducted for this course every year, he said.
At present, many banks don’t give loans for commercial pilot licence (CPL) training courses. AI will give a guarantee to banks that candidates would repay loans from their salaries on joining the carrier.
23/02/07 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

Mumbai: An agreement designed to help India's aviation industry was signed here today by the city-based Cubex India with Winnipeg Aviation and Red River College of Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada).
The agreement seeks to provide aviation management and aircraft maintenance engineering services to meet the country's burgeoning demand in the fast growing sector, the parties announced.
Manitoba is already an aviation hub for Indian students studying pilot training to meet the growing demand for pilots in India. Forty pilots have already been licensed.
Pilot training in Manitoba is both cost and time effective, it was pointed out.
22/02/07 The Hindu Business Line

New Delhi: With more airlines starting up and some 3,000 pilots needed over the next five years, instructors in flying clubs are leaving by the droves for them.
There were some 70 instructors in 2003; last year there were just about 30, say experts. But some flying clubs are trying to stem this trend by offering fully-funded programmes to new students.
Yash Air, an Indore-based flying school, for example, plans to add 12 more planes to its present 13. In order to generate instructors from within, the club is offering free training to students on single and multi-engines.
It normally costs Rs 25 lakh. In return, the student signs a five-year bond.
"During that time, they fly as instructors. This rating is got after flying some 210 hours, 100 on command. We can also lease them to other flying clubs and charter operators. We give them a stipend of up to Rs 50,000 monthly. At the end of five years, they would've accumulated 3,000-4,000 hours in turboprops and can join airlines,"says Capt Yashraj Tongia, Yash Air.
This plan, started in 2006, has 10 cadets presently. "We plan to induct 10 more every year,"he says.
But despite good remuneration, it's not easy to retain them, Tongia admits. General instructors who're not part of the above scheme are paid Rs 1.5-2 lakh, while senior ones get Rs 3.5-5 lakh.
Yet, most prefer to join airlines. "An instructor's job in a club is tougher than flying in an airline. Our planes are smaller, unlike big jets of airlines. So there's no auto-pilot, the cabins are mostly unpressurised and there's a lot of teaching to do,"says Tongia.
17/02/07 Shobha John/Times of India

Hyderabad: The American School of Aviation (ASA), a US-based pilot training institute, opened a recruitment centre in Hyderabad on Tuesday, making it the eighth such centre for the ASA in the country.
ASA was planning to open 20 more recruitment centres in the country by the end of the year. The institute, which is in the fifth year of its existence, is now planning to add 50 more aircraft to its current fleet of 31 by June this year.
ASA has two training programmes -- an eight-month Kingfisher Airlines Programme (KFA) and a special flying training programme with a 10-month duration period. Under the KFA programme, ASA India does the psychometric testing for aspiring pilots and sends them to Kingfisher Airlines for an interview. If selected, the candidate will get a substantial scholarship from KFA and also a provisional letter of appointment. The programme costs $46,138.
Under the special flying training programme, students who enroll in the course will be given pilot training at the ASA's school in Atwater, California, supplemented by ground training at the ASA India's Gurgaon facility. ASA will facilitate the entire process of becoming a commercial pilot from the time a student applies till he or she gets a job with an airline. This programme costs $37,998.
16/02/07 domain-B

Air India, which is acquiring 68 Boeing aircraft for $11 billion, is on a major pilot-sourcing drive, as the state-run airline is enhancing existing services, apart from starting new ones.
The national flag carrier has already sourced 20 pilots from Belgrade-based Jat Airways Training Centre, and 18 more will join shortly.
Air India, which has a fleet of 48 aircraft, will require 100 pilots every year for the next seven years.
To meet the growing pilots requirements, Air India has shortlisted four international flight training institutes. Besides Jat Airways, the airline has shortlisted a US-based and a New Zealand-based training institutes to train fresh engineering graduates in twin-engine jets.
Recently, the PSU carrier had decided to recruit fresh graduates from the science and engineering disciplines in the wake of a severe shortage of pilots. The airline will sign a bond with these graduates, who will be trained at Air India’s cost.
“Over 2,000 graduates appeared for the examination conducted by Air India for pilot-training,” Air India executives said. Air India requires over 3,500 pilots in the next three years with domestic airlines acquiring more than 300 aircraft.
Industry analysts said Air India would have to scout for multiple avenues for sourcing pilots as the capacity of the state-run Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRUA) has reached saturation.
17/02/07 PR Sanjai/Business Standard

India would require anything between 7,500-8,000 pilots and an equal number or more air cabin crew by 2010.
No wonder there have been a series of announcements regarding establishment of aviation training centres especially in the past couple of weeks.
Airbus has decided to set up an aviation school in Bangalore to train 1,000 pilots a year, Rajeev Chandrasekhar's Jupiter Aviation is looking to set up a similar venture in Bangalore or Hyderabad and aviation consultant Praveen Paul has set up his own aviation school and many more are in the offing including Deccan Aviation's venture with ATR.
Most aviation schools charge a fee of Rs 10-12 lakh for a 18-24 month flying module and most parents are prepared to pay this fee looking at the long term gains.
Considering that the engineering/MBA combination costs as much, students are getting increasingly convinced about the aviation option.
17/02/07 Darlington Jose Hector/Times of India

Mumbai: Dubai Aerospace University (DAU), the education and training arm of aviation major Dubai Aerospace Enterprises is targeting Indian students who are interested in careers in the entire aviation spectrum -- from technicians and pilots to supervisors and managers in airlines, airports, aircraft and aviation service businesses and aerospace design, engineering and manufacturing.
Dubai Aerospace University President, George Ebbs said India was a major market for the university and the proposed pilot training academy would give hands-on training for Indian students. The university will be rolling out various financial assistance measures to Indian students.
The University's recent research of the India commercial aviation market has shown that up to 1,500 aircraft are expected to be ordered in the next 20 years and passenger traffic is forecast to grow by nearly 10 per cent in the next decade. More than $2 billion of investment is planned to develop major airports in India.
So what are the employment opportunities for Indian students? "There is no placement agreement signed between airlines in India currently. But, Dubai Aerospace University students will have the opportunity of intern placements and employment in the other five divisions of Dubai Aerospace Enterprises--DAE Airport, DAE Engineering, DAE manufacturing, DAE services and DAE capital.”
15/02/07 PR Sanjai/Business Standard

New Delhi: Indian (Airlines) is introducing a new voluntary retirement scheme for airhostesses above 40 years. IA is offering a minimum of Rs 25 lakh and also a guaranteed employment for one member of the family as part of the operational crew.
A major attraction of the scheme is that if the employee accepting the VRS has a daughter, she can be taken on board as an airhostess. The average age of airhostesses in Indian Airlines is well above the industry average, largely due to the fact that a government ban on recruitment in the non-operational categories has been in place since 2000.
Indian Airlines currently has 1,420 personnel as part of its cabin crew, of which 1,170 are airhostesses each drawing an average salary of Rs 5 lakh a year. The starting salary for the flight crew ranges between Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000 which can go up to Rs 35,000-40,000 a month.
In Jet airways, the average age of cabin crew is 24 years, with an average initial salary of Rs 28,000 that can go up to Rs 38,000 for crew with more than five years of experience. The average of other private carriers also ranges between 23 to 25 years.
15/02/07 Atreyee Dev Roy/Financial Express

Bangalore: It’s simple arithmetic. Over the next ten years, airlines will take delivery of around 400 aircraft and each of them would require 10 pilots and double that number of engineers. This means there would be additional demand for around 4,000 pilots and 8,000 engineers.
This is just for basic flight training. There is also type-rating and recurrent simulator training. The potential in these two are also immense. Not to forget, pilot demand for corporate and cargo jets, and flight training.
These numbers have excited many companies enough to announce plans to launch flying schools. To name a few: there is former telecom czar Rajeev Chandrasekhar’s ambitious project in partnership with EADS, which would churn out 500 ab-initio (commercial pilot licence - CPL) pilots and 1,000 flight engineers every year from mid-2009 onwards. Canada’s CAE has also drawn up plans for a $20-million flight simulation training centre that would produce 1,000 pilots per year.
Then, there are smaller firms like Nova Aviation Services, which has chalked out plans for setting up a flying school in Mumbai to train 90 pilots and 90 engineers in a year.
Though SpiceJet has made provisions for the 90 additional pilots it would need this year, it has no clue from where it will meet its requirement of 120 pilots next year and 140 pilots thereafter.
“The problem is not so much at the first officer level. We can easily train them overseas in a year-and-a-half and recruit. The shortage is at the commander level, where you need 4-5 years of experience. This is being filled up by foreign pilots,” said J S Dhillon, SpiceJet executive vice-president, flight operations.
“Today, 20% of our pilots are expats. This could rise to 30% next year,” said Dhillon.
Promoter of ground training school Clipair’s S N Dutta laments; “A lot many more pilots can be trained if the training environment is made friendlier. DGCA has amended rules in August this year to make it compulsory for a student to fly 50 hours before taking the CPL ground tests. One does not understand the rationale behind this.”
13/02/07 Praveena Sharma/Daily News & Analysis

Bangalore: If you have only passed 10 plus 2, you may imagine career options are limited. Even call centres have become choosy. If your parents have deep pockets and you have the right attitude and aptitude, a career as an airline pilot waits for you, 40 weeks of training overseas later. You could earn a starting salary of Rs. 1 lakh a month with a domestic airline or perhaps, a bit more with an international carrier.
New Delhi-based Aerostar Aviation is doing what contact centres for foreign universities are into. They arrange all the formalities for you to learn to become a licensed commercial pilot at Flight Safety Academy in Florida, U.S., one of the largest pilots' training academy in the world. Aerostar Chief Executive Officer Air Vice Marshal (retd) A.J.S. Walia told presspersons here that his post IAF stint with aviation was operating the non-scheduled airline, Club One Air, mostly ferrying top business executives.
The training in Florida does not come cheap; the tuition fees alone amount to $ 60,000 but can be paid in monthly instalments. Additional expenses will be for food and accommodation as for any student attending a U.S. university. Aerostar plans to send around 100 trainees from India for each batch and has reserved 30 seats for Karnataka. One batch is a few weeks into their training. For those with higher ambitions, there is a longer flight instructor training too, which will cost an additional $ 8,000. But that has its advantages too. During the pilot training course one notches up close to 225 hours of flying; the experience most airlines expect. As a flying instructor, you can put in another 850 hours over a one-year job contract. So, at the end of it all, you can even become an airline captain and still be less than 25 years with years of a career ahead of you.
12/02/07 K. Satyamurty/The Hindu

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

Rae Bareli: The first initiative of the Central government to run Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Udan Academy (IGRUA), in Fursatganj, Rae Bareli, in collaboration with Canada's reputed institution of aviation CAE, has failed. The Civil Aviation Ministry is now seeking foreign collaboration for IGRUA from the US, Britain, Belgium, Canada, and Australia.
According to IGRUA management, this time they have sought collaboration from 23 aviation companies, including Flight Safety Academy, Air Safety Academy, PANAM Airlines (all USA), Oxford Aviation Training Centre and Atlantic Flight (Britain), Toronto Airways ( Canada), Australian National Air College and Queensland Aerospace ( Australia) and Sabina Airlines (Belgium).
The CAE of Canada showed interest in 49 per cent participation but put up hard conditions, like doubling the fee for the present Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL), total control of IGRUA administration and Indian government bearing the burden of the employees. This company also put the condition that rules be changed and ground simulator training hours be added to the training hours.
10/02/07 MS Misra/Hindustan Times

Bangalore: India's Jupiter Aviation has entered into a strategic tie-up with global aerospace major EADS to set up training centres and lifecycle support facility for maintenance, repair and overhaul - of civilian aircraft here.
According a company statement Friday, Jupiter, a subsidiary of Jupiter Capital, founded by former BPL Mobile CEO Rajeev Chandrasekhar, is set to invest Rs.11 billion - in the ventures, including flying schools and airline resources training.
EADS, a 34-billion euro firm, will bring in technology, know-how and resources for training rookies as pilots, cabin crew and maintenance.
The agreement, signed on the sidelines of Aero India 2007 here, envisages roping in strategic partners to develop the ventures into an eco-system and infrastructure backbone for the growing civil aviation market in the subcontinent.
'We would like to locate the ventures primarily in Bangalore if the state government supports such investments or else we will be looking at other competing locations,' Chandrasekhar, a Rajya Sabha member from Karnataka, said in the statement.
The proposed aviation knowledge venture - VimanaVidhya will have an aerospace academy, training about 5,000 students, trainees and pilots in various categories every year.
The subsidiary is also planning to launch the country's first fractional share aviation firm, christened PrivateAir, with a fleet of business jets and corporate helicopters to provide charter and non-schedule services.
09/02/07 RxPG NEWS

DAUniversity opens up aviation opportunities for Indian studentsDubai Aerospace University, the education and training arm of Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, is to present its world-class aviation education programmes to schools and companies through a five city tour of India this month.The university's administrators will be explaining the opportunities available to students interested in pursuing or developing their career in the aerospace and aviation sector, which has a growing demand for a highly-qualified workforce in India.
The DAUniversity open days will be held in Mumbai on Tuesday, February 13; Hyderabad on Thursday, February 15; Bangalore on Saturday, February 17; Chennai on Sunday, February 18; and Delhi on Wednesday, February 21.
The scheduled events will demonstrate how the Dubai-based university's tailored academic programmes can provide a high-level entry to exciting career opportunities in the region for both undergraduates and post-graduates. The university is targeting students whose ambitions are careers - from technicians and pilots to supervisors and managers - in airlines, airports, aircraft and aviation services businesses and aerospace design, engineering and manufacturing. 07/02/07 AME Info (press release), United Arab Emirates

Bangalore: During a press conference held today, CAE announced it will establish its first Indian aviation training centre in Bangalore, India. It will be located close to the Bangalore International Airport at Devanahalli. The centre will open by the end of calendar 2007 and will train up to 1,000 pilots annually when fully operational. The initial plan involves an investment of approximately US $20 million and would likely include the participation of a partner. CAE is evaluating partnership possibilities.
CAE's India training centre will serve India-based airlines and the surrounding region. The centre will be part of the CAE-Airbus cooperation and will initially offer pilot, cabin crew and maintenance training as well as flight operations support on the Airbus A320 and the Boeing 737. The training centre will also serve the needs of the CAE Global Academy, a new training alliance intended to address the global shortage of pilots.
CAE is a world leader in providing simulation and modelling technologies, and integrated training services to the civil aviation industry and defence forces around the globe.
With annual revenues of over C$1 billion, CAE operates in 19 countries around the world.
02/02/07 PRNewswire-FirstCall/ Yahoo! News (press release)

Labels: Aviation Training, CAE, Pilot Schools

New Delhi: Although Wing Commander Devesh Kakar (name and location changed on request) who handles flight administration at an IAF base in Allahabad, has logged 1,200 hours on an IAF aircraft, some 19 years of incident-free flying, that alone does not guarantee career progression in the steep promotion pyramid of the defense services. Kakar needs only to pass a simple DGCA conversion exam for a civil license, which could translate into a ten-fold jump over his IAF salary.
He is exactly the kind of person that Indian airlines are desperate for: experienced in flying in Indian conditions, adept at dealing with Indian situations and people, and considerably cheaper to employ than pilots from abroad.
But there’s a hitch. Before Kakar’s resignation is accepted, he will have to be rejected for further promotion by three separate promotion boards. Unlike any other employer, the Indian military can refuse to allow its personnel to resign and the courts have always upheld its decision.
The civil aviation administration, searching feverishly for managers, instructors and pilots to support India’s burgeoning aviation growth, tip-toes around the IAF’s decision, but continues to eye this manpower pool.
Civil Aviation Secretary Ajay Prasad, who recently employed a retired air force officer to run the prestigious Sanjay Gandhi National Flying Academy, says, “We need pilots. We want to give the pilots who are available to be released from the air force a greater role in civilian traffic. We can fly a person who is medically fit up to the age of 65 and in the air force people retire much earlier, so we can certainly use them as instructors and even as online pilots.”
But Air Chief Marshall SP Tyagi points out that if civil aviation is expanding, so is the IAF.
The IAF’s inability to release its pilots may be infuriating for civil airlines, but aviation consultant Tulsi Kesharwani believes that this could work well for pilots in the long term.
“If just one airline folds up today and returns its aircraft, you could quickly have a situation where there are more pilots than are needed,” he says.
02/02/07 Ajai Shukla/Business Standard

Labels: IAF, Pilots