Aviation India: Careers

Chandigarh: Punjab would soon have a Civil Aviation University to cater the need to equip and train the personnel in this field as the civil aviation was aheading towards a boom and had tremendous employment potential to offer to the unemployed youth in the state.
An announcement to this effect was made by the Punjab Chief Minister .Parkash Singh Badal in his inaugural address on the day long workshop on Punjab Strategy of Human Resource Development - Employment Generation & Training organized here at Hotel Mountview by the Department of Employment Generation & Training, Punjab.
With this Punjab would become the first state in the country to have a University in the field of civil aviation. Badal solicited the services of V.Mulekar, Advisor, Aviation Services, Maharastra Airport Development Co. Ltd. who had already played an instrumental role in the up-gradation of the Amritsar International Airport in 1999 and increasing the number of international flights from merely one in a week to phenomenal 59.
Badal said that services of an eminent consultants and key players in the field of civil aviation would be engaged for the preparation of the blue print of the proposed university. He also pointed out that the detailed modalities would be worked out with the Ministries of Civil Aviation and Human Resource Development for the setting up of the university.
24/08/07 PunjabNewsline.com

Brussels, Belgium: The international airline industry, faced with a growing passenger load and a shortage of pilots, is ready to graduate its first flight crews from a shortened training program that experts warn may not be good enough.
The new curriculum - known as the Multi-crew Pilots License - departs from conventional methods by slashing schooling time both on the ground and in the air and by making greater use of flight simulators.
The industry says the program will improve the ability of new co-pilots to function as flight crew members, but critics argue it's a quick-fix scheme to overcome pilot shortages that could compromise safety standards.
The program was conceived in 2000 by the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) , the U.N. agency in charge of civil air traffic. It designed the program to rely more on simulators and to train students from the start to function as crew members on the specific types of aircraft they will operate during their careers.
Supporters say the new program - known as MPL - is a significant improvement, since trainees are placed immediately into the multi-crew environment working closely with other pilots, rather than spending long periods flying solo as is required by the present schooling system.
But critics say they are skeptical about the need for such sweeping changes in training programs, claiming these are principally motivated by economic considerations and by the airlines' desperation for pilots.
"Simulators are good to teach system operations, but real flying is needed to learn airmanship, the very basis of safety," said Philip von Schoppenthau, secretary-general of the Brussels-based European Cockpit Association, a pilots' union.
Over the past several years the growth of air traffic in the Middle East and Asia and the proliferation of budget airlines in Europe and the United States have created a drastic shortage of airline pilots. With global air traffic predicted to grow by 5-6 percent annually over the next two decades, the shortage will only become more acute.
The primary demand for pilots will come from China, India, Southeast Asia and the Persian Gulf region.
The new program will begin graduating pilots this year from schools in Australia, the Philippines and Denmark. The first six cadets who will finish are being trained in Australia by Alteon and are from China Eastern Airlines and Xiamen Airlines, also a China-based carrier.
So far, the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority and most European regulatory agencies have not given the go-ahead for using MPL. But pressure has been building to inaugurate its wider use, and the program will likely soon be accepted by established air training academies.
The MPL would allow a trainee to qualify as a co-pilot in 45 weeks.
Currently, trainee pilots must complete 50-60 flying hours to obtain a Private Pilot's License, then about 150 hours for a Commercial Pilot's License, the basic commercial permit. The Air Transport Pilot's License - the advanced credential required to fly a commercial airliner - obliges pilots to log about 1,500 flying hours. The entire process takes roughly two years.
But the MPL would only require about 64 hours of actual flight time as pilot-in-command, because the emphasis would be on simulator training. The International Civil Aviation Organization argues the new curriculum would save on the time a trainee is required to "punch holes in the sky" flying solo in a piston-engine trainer.
Nonetheless, critics note that 45 weeks is about the time needed to obtain an ordinary driver's license in Europe. They say the trainees will not have enough time to learn basic English - the language of international aviation.
22/08/07 Slobodan Lekic/Associated Press/Washington Post, United States

The Emirates Group has cemented its relationship with Western Australia’s Edith Cowan University with the opening of the Centre for Security & Aviation Excellence.
The centre, run by Transguard Education Academy, is located at Emirates Group Security offices at Dubai Airport Free Zone, and offers programmes for security professionals, including those working in the aviation industry, plus other aviation-related training programmes.
In addition to the programme leading to the Diploma in Aviation Security Management, the centre now offers programmes leading to the Diploma in Security Investigations and the Diploma in Aviation Ground Handling.
As its sole representative, the Transguard Education Academy can assist students applying for educational opportunities with Edith Cowan University.
Professor Nara Srinivasan, the centre’s Director, explained: “The formation of the centre represents Emirates’ commitment to education and to laying the foundation for further programmes and research relevant to the aviation and security industries.
“To this end, the centre will collaborate with institutes in the UK, Australia and Singapore to host several research projects over the coming years.”
22/08/07 e-Travel Blackboard (press release), Australia

Schiphol, Netherlands: When Austin Whitehead started his first job as a co-pilot with Ryanair this month, he had a little more than 250 hours of flight experience under his belt - and €92,000 in loans to repay for his training.
It might seem odd that eager young pilots have to go so deeply into debt - about $124,000 in Whitehead's case - when new airlines are popping up like weeds and many are scrambling to find qualified flight crews.
But he and other would-be flyboys are being squeezed by two recent trends. One is the downsizing of many national militaries, where most pilots used to get their training at government expense. The other is a new business model at airlines for cutting as many costs as possible through outsourcing - including pilot training.
In the mid-1990s, about three-quarters of the pilots flying for the world's major airlines were trained by the military, according to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. Today, however, that figure has fallen sharply, to about 40 percent.
To fill their remaining pilot needs, commercial airlines have traditionally recruited from among charter and cargo pilots. Many of the larger carriers - including Lufthansa, British Airways and Qantas - have also operated their own flight training schools, with their own rigorous selection processes. Those include aptitude tests in math and physics, as well as psychological and physical fitness exams.
As global air traffic continues its rapid expansion, airlines are facing a growing shortage of qualified cockpit crews at a time when they have fewer financial resources available to train them.
For younger, start-up airlines in particular, the costs of building qualified flight crews is substantial: With each new aircraft an airline adds to its fleet, it needs, on average, about 10 new pilots, industry executives said.
Hence the financial and logistical appeal to a growing number of airlines of using private flight training schools to recruit and train prospective pilots.
Instead of investing in their own training centers, instructors and multi-million dollar flight simulators, more and more air carriers are signing agreements with pilot training companies to provide a pool of qualified candidates for potential hire. Under this system, the school gets paid a fee by the airline, the airline gets a trained pilot and the costs - as well as the financial risks - are borne by the applicant.
Whitehead got his job at Ryanair through just such a program, gaining his certification to fly Boeing 737 jets at a training center just outside Amsterdam run by CAE, a provider of aviation training services and flight simulators for military and civilian aircraft, based in Montreal. Over the past three years, the airline, based in Dublin, has recruited more than 350 pilots trained by CAE.
CAE has similar deals with other carriers, including the low-cost Indian carrier IndiGo and AirAsia of Malaysia, and it trains more than 75,000 crew members every year at facilities in 19 countries, making it one of the world's largest pilot training companies.
21/08/07 International Herald Tribune, France

Atlanta: The U.S. airline industry hopes to hire 12,000 pilots this year and 65,000 by 2012 amid a growing shortage that threatens to disrupt passenger service.
But the recruiting job is made harder by a slew of retirements, a lack of new recruits and competition from overseas carriers and the U.S. military, The Washington Times reported.
Just as the domestic demand for experienced pilots is rising, foreign airlines are poaching our pilots, Aviation Information Resources Inc. President Kit Darby told the newspaper. And they are doing a pretty good job.
Some Indian companies, for instance, are luring U.S. pilots by offering them a tax-free salary, Darby said.
A worldwide pilot shortage is looming, assistant Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Daniel Elwell said. Japan can't get pilots fast enough. (Neither can) carriers in the Middle East. So they are hiring American pilots, Elwell said to the Times.
Commercial air travel has grown 8 percent in the past five years, to 740 million passengers in 2006 from 683 million in 2001. The FAA expects the number to jump to 1.2 billion passengers by 2020.
To buy time for the U.S. industry, the FAA is working to change its mandatory age-60 retirement policy to permit one of two pilots in a crew to fly up to the age of 65, the Times said.
20/08/07 United Press International/ImediNews, Georgia, US

More than 1,000 pilots applied for 100 positions at United in the first 10 days that the company sought applications. The company is looking to hire 100 experienced pilots by the end of this year.
“We are impressed by the volume of applications and, more importantly, by the caliber and diversity of the candidates applying for these positions,” said Captain Hank Krakowski, vice president, Flight Operations. “We set extremely high standards for our pilots and are looking for the best of the best to join our distinguished team.”
United officially opened the online application site on Monday, July 16. This is the first time the company has hired new pilots since 2001. This latest hiring effort is being driven by United’s expansion of flying into international markets. The online application site remains open for interested candidates.
20/08/07 Easier, UK

Preparing able flight and cabin crew is an important factor for modern airlines to ensure not only the comfort of their passengers, but also their safety. The Jakarta Post's Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, along with 18 journalists from both Indonesia and Singapore, recently participated in an aviation workshop held by Singapore Airlines (SIA).
The airplane makes an emergency landing, flight attendants calmly direct passengers to safety while others tend to the injured.
Fear not -- this is just a simulation held at a training facility where new and veteran air crew hone and refresh their skills on air transport safety.
But wait until you visit the water evacuation pool, where an aircraft simulates making a ditch-landing. The pool can create waves simulating open-water realism.
Most major airlines have their own training centers, such as the Singapore Airlines Training Centre (STC), which was opened officially in January 1993.
The S$80 million training center aims to suppress potential in-flight errors by holding continuous training exercises and courses.
"We regard safety as an essential part of all our operations. Singapore Airlines maintains and adopts practices that promote the safety our customers and staff," assistant manager of public affairs S. Supramaniam told The Jakarta Post.
The airline used to have separate training facilities for different kinds of training; the centralized facility is aimed to establish inter-departmental communication.
Training is provided through specific courses, such as in language and counseling, and food service. However, culinary training sessions are still held at another SIA facility.
On average, more than 300 people attend various courses daily at the STC. In the fiscal year 2005-06, the company spent S$103.3 million on training alone. Both newcomers and seasoned crew are present there on a daily basis.
Besides new recruits, the airline obliges its senior cabin crew to refresh their safety and emergency skills each year. They take a two-day training session at STC and must pass the associated exam in order to keep serving passengers in the air.
Practical training includes practicing CPR on specially designed dummies and using fire extinguishers in a purpose-built training room.
A partial mock-sized cabin of an Airbus 340-300 for water evacuation training is mounted above a huge square pool; trainees use emergency slide rafts to evacuate "passengers" through several doors of the jet.
Emergency drills are simulated with the pool's pitch and roll capability, and various scenarios are created for a mock ground evacuation.
Both male and female crews wear casual attire while training, including the iconic Singapore Girls, who are known among air travelers for their body-hugging kebaya uniforms.
The flight attendants face tough recruitment competition and must pass a strict selection process before donning the uniform. SIA receives about 1,000 applicants every year, and only accepts 60 to 80 people.
The lucky ones undergo a 15-week training period with courses ranging from people management and problem solving to food and beverage, and first aid safety.
"About 90 percent of all Singapore Girls are either Singaporean or Malaysian. The others hail from China, India, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia. They represent countries from which most of their passengers' originate," said public affairs supervisor C.H. Heng.
"We'd like our cabin crew to speak the natural languages of our regular passengers," Heng added.
As of June 2007, the SIA cabin crew consists of 6,000 people.
For pilots, the STC has several types of airplane simulators such as the Boeing 747, Boeing 777 and Airbus A340 that make up the airline's fleet.
Adding a new type of aircraft to the fleet means pilots must undergo rigorous training yet again.
For example, the carrier has trained about 40 pilots to fly the Airbus A380 double-decker aircraft. These pilots have been training with the French Thales flight simulator since June.
"The simulators run 24 hours a day, even on weekends and public holidays," said Supramaniam.
20/08/07 Jakarta Post, Indonesia

Mumbai: With airlines in the booming industry increasing their fleet, there are more vacancies at the helm. While 20-somethings are commanding single-aisle jets like A-320s and Boeing 737s, pilots are beginning to command 747s in their early 40s, something unheard of in the 1980s.
"Globally, the average age of a jetliner commander is about 45-plus, as a majority of pilots get to fly jets only after going through a long transition process, from single-engine aircraft to multi-engine turbines and finally jets," said Capt R Otaal, general secretary of the Indian Commercial Pilot's Association.
In India, as general aviation flying - on piston and turbine aircraft - hardly exists, pilots start their careers on airline jets. Though this has been the case all these decades, becoming the commander of a jet was still a long process that took five to nine years.
In the last two years though, co-pilots have been turning into commanders within just two years. The reason? "It has to do with the rapid fleet expansion by airlines, which has brought in plenty of vacancies for the top post," said Captain Ayodh Kapur, retired Air India commander and former director of the Federation of Indian Pilots.
According to Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) guidelines, a first officer (co-pilot) can graduate to command a particular aircraft after flying 1,500 hours as a first officer on it.
Although some airlines stick to this rule, others - like Jet Airways, Indian and so on - have raised the bar. But this, too, is being brought down.
"In 1972, an Indian Airlines co-pilot had to fly 4,800 hours to be eligible to become a commander. That was brought down to 2,750 hours in 1996. Now the airline is trying to bring it down to the DGCA minimum of 1,500 hours," said Otaal.
Other contributing factors include the fact that students are taking to flight training early and the process itself is quicker.In fact, some students complete their flight training much before they are 18 and then wait for their birthday to apply for the licence.
Aviation safety experts are looking at the trend with caution. "If one becomes a commander after flying as a co-pilot for only two monsoons, there is a level of risk involved due to lack of experience."
"One must remember that a 19-year-old co-pilot may be sharing the cockpit with a 25-year-old commander - there are hardly any years of experience between them," said an aviation observer.
"The positive side is that younger pilots have sharper reflexes. In the 1960s, when the world was making a transition from piston aircraft to jets and Air India got its first Boeing 707, many older and much-experienced pilots could not make the transition. It was the younger pilots who did it," said Kapur.
20/08/07 Manju V/Times of India

Do you say what you think even if it upsets someone? Do you ask people for help if a task seems too hard? Do you find it hard to enjoy life? Are you happy? At your next job interview, it might be your inner self the employer is most interested in, not what's listed on your resume or stored in your brain. While experience and IQ opened doors in the past, organizations from Air Canada, American Express and Deloitte to the U.S. Air Force, are looking at EQ -- emotional intelligence -- as a key indicator of a person's success at work. We've all heard of IQ, but what is EQ?
"Emotional intelligence is your ability to be aware of your emotions, to manage them, to be aware of the emotions of the people around you and to manage those to some degree as well," says clinical psychologist Steven Stein, CEO of Multi-Health Systems Inc. The Toronto company publishes a range of psychological tests, including the BarOn Emotional Quotient Inventory, or EQ-I, billed as the world's first scientific measure of emotional intelligence.
"When you have emotionally intelligent leaders, managers and people, things go better," adds Dr. Stein.
"People with higher emotional skills are more able to get help and muster teams, they're able to be seen more as leaders and are more likely to be put in leadership positions. They get promoted faster," he says.
Indeed, while IQ might get a person through the door, success is largely a matter of EQ, says Dr. Stein. "People often get hired because of their IQ. But what happens once you're hired is, the ones who do better on the job are usually the ones with the higher EQ," he says.
Through questions like those above, the EQ-I test measures 15 specific areas of emotional intelligence: emotional self-awareness, assertiveness, self-regard, self-actualization, independence, empathy, interpersonal relationship, social responsibility, problem solving, flexibility, reality testing, stress tolerance, impulse control, optimism and happiness.
Air Canada used the EQ-I test to assess the emotional intelligence of 650 new pilots hired since 2005.
"An airline captain is, if you want to look at it in a certain way, a team leader. He's overseeing the cockpit crew, the flight deck crew as well as the cabin crew. And he's not only interacting with the other crew members but also with other departments within the airline," says Capt. Dave Legge, vice-president of flight operations. "Obviously, if you have to interact well with other people, these are instruments that we can use during the selection process to identify people that have these enhanced skills," he says. "At the end of the day, we want to have a better idea of who we're hiring. These tools provide us with that kind of information. They tend to be more objective."
20/08/07 Dave McGinn, Financial Post/Canada.com, Canada

DGCA has published Pilot (ATPL) Result July 2007 Session. The lists of candidates selected for oral exmination are published at DGCA site.

ATPLG (Oral Examination List and Venue): Jul2007-Regular Session
ATPCG (Oral Examination List and Venue): Jul2007-Regular Session

Second Oral Examination of Air Navigation & Radio Aids & Instruments Subjects of Airline Transport Pilots General License (ATPLG / ATPLCG) Examination, July 2007 Session has been scheduled. The programme can be accessed here. The candidates are advised to appear for their Second Oral Examination as per the Venue, date and Time mentioned against their Names.

New Delhi: Even as corporate India spreads its wings abroad more and more, the services sectors continue to face large-scale attrition of skilled manpower resulting in manpower shortage, says a survey.
Sectors such as IT and IT-enabled services, civil aviation, financial services, retail and engineering are all facing huge manpower shortage due to increasing attrition, said the survey done by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham).
In the country's aviation sector, the level of attrition is 46 per cent amongst pilots and cabin crew due to growing opportunities and more avenues in the sector.
The survey also highlighted that maximum attrition was seen among employees in the age group of 26 to 30 years. It found that employees who are most vulnerable to change are with experience ranging between two to four years.
Employees within the age group of 39 to 45 were found to be most stable in their jobs. Interestingly, the survey also showed that the frequency of changing jobs was more prevalent in women than their male counterparts.
19/08/07 Indo-Asian News Service/Hindustan Times

New Delhi: After announcing its foray into the regional airline segment, the Bird Group is now all set to open an institute for training pilots. The Group, which has an annual turnover of Rs 200 crore, plans to start the operations by this year end and will take around 120 students in its first batch.
The Bird Group has zeroed in on Ludhiana as its base and will train the pilots on a single-engine aircraft. Already, companies such as Boeing, Airbus, Alteon and CAE have shown interest in opening up commercial pilot training centres in India. CAE has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a joint venture with the Airport Authority of India (AAI) to develop the National Flying Training Institute (NFTI).
It has also signed a memorandum of understanding to become the managing partner of the Indian government’s flight training academy — Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRUA).
19/08/07 Dheeraj Tiwari/Economic Times

Chennai: While the idea of watching planes go by all day (and all night) might seem the perfect job to many, working as an air-traffic controller (ATC) involves levels of stress that most of us cannot even comprehend. This is especially true in a place like Chennai, where besides the more ‘routine’ concerns of mid-air collisions, thunder storms and emergency landings that come with the job, stray dogs on the runway, power outages and airline politics play on your mind.
“The first thing you should know about being an ATC is that it is not like any office managerial job,” says Vinod Kumar, ATC, Chennai.
An ATC’s work begins the second an aircraft is within range of the airspace a particular airport is responsible for – Chennai controls the largest airspace in India, stretching far into the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal – and ends only when the aircraft is safely tucked into its parking gate.
ATCs monitor and direct everything, from take-offs and landings and taxing on the tarmac to the flight plans of aircrafts passing over Chennai and even the weather.
Becoming an ATC requires passing an intense, one-year long course at the Civil Aviation Training College in Allahabad.
Candidates are put through rigorous tests on simulators where you have to manage crowded landing sequences and terrifying emergencies.
The challenges that an ATC faces are many. Getting by on two hours of sleep is not unusual. When faced with shortage of manpower, the job can require a controller to stay on beyond his or her normal shift and work through the night, from 8.30 in the evening when the shift starts till the sun rises. Controllers require excellent numerical skills and even strong skills in diplomacy to pacify angry and impatient pilots all too eager to get one step ahead of their competitors.
Still, despite these [many] pitfalls, Vinod still believes that there’s nothing quite like controlling aeroplanes for a living.
19/08/07 Ananth Krishnan/The Hindu

New Delhi: If You enroll yourself in a fancy cabin-crew training programme, on the face of it you’re being groomed for a career in the skies — but the harsh reality is that after the completion of a year-long course and spending over a lakh rupees, you may end up as a receptionist or at most work in graveyard shifts at a call centre.
What comes as a surprise is that none of the airlines show any preference for students coming out of such institutes. “......Often during recruitment, we find applications from those who don’t have the eligibility in terms of physical stature. These institutes enroll as many students they can and only a few lucky ones manage to get the desired job, which such institutes overtly advertise,” says a senior HR manager, Air India. With the unprecedented growth in the aviation sector all across India, various cabin crew academies have sprouted, which promise to help realise your dream to fly. But what remains unknown is that your wings can be clipped right at the doorstep of such academies.
Air Hostess Academy (AHA), which has been in the business for the last decade, vehemently denies the charges.
AHA has 32 centres across India and has around 10,000 students on their rolls. “At the inception of the course, we make it clear that some may not be able to get a job of cabin crew but they can apply for ground staff. And in today’s world you can’t fool the students for long,” argues AHA director Sapna Gupta.
It’s the same story with, Frankfinn Institute of Air Hostess Training, where only 30% and Avalon, where 40% of the total placement join flying jobs and the rest have to be content with ground jobs or other hospitality-related jobs. Frankfinn has 78 centres across the country as compared to 60 centres last year. Its course duration is one-year and charges are over a lakh for the training programme.
All the academies are increasingly focussing on Tier-II and Tier-III cities, where it becomes easier to lure candidates promising ‘sky-high’ jobs. Avalon Aviation Academy, which is focussing on Tier II and Tier III cities, plans to increase its advertising spend by a whopping 5 crore in the next year.
19/08/07 Dheeraj Tiwari & Vishakha Talreja/Economic Times

New Delhi: Rising number of expats coming in may have proved to be a blessing for the pilot-starved aviation industry in India, but their high failure rate in oral English tests conducted by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has become a cause for concern.
Industry sources say 15-20% of expat pilots fail to clear the mandatory English test conducted under the Aeronautic Information Circular (AIC-7) and are sent back by the airlines. DGCA started conducting English examinations last year after a sharp rise in the number of incidents arising out of miscommunication between expat pilots and air traffic control.
“Getting pilots from non-English speaking countries like Poland, Bulgaria and Romania is of no help as they find it hard to clear the English test, while trained pilots from developed countries are an expensive proposition,” said a senior Kingfisher Airlines executive.
Of the 4,000 pilots in domestic aviation, about 1,000 are expats, while flying permissions for about 80-100 expats are pending with the DGCA.
Airlines typically pay between $9,000 and $11,000 per month to expat pilots, about 10-15% more than what Indian pilots earn, in addition to housing and other perks.
18/08/07 Chanchal Pal Chauhan/Economic Times

Mumbai: Airlines in India are not just increasingly flying international, but are also are scouting for expatriates to steer their airplanes to overcome the current shortage of trained pilots in the country.
Kingfisher Airlines, for instance, just concluded their interviews in Brazil and Venezuela and Jet Airways is not far behind either. It has advertised to hire pilots especially from the US. Kingfisher needs to add another 130 over the next one-year to its 70-strong roster now and Jet has a 25 per cent shortage in terms of pilot requirement.
Says Rubi Arya, head human resource, Kingfisher Airlines, "We are conducting roadshows across the globe to hire pilots. Recently, we received several applications in a roadshow held in Rio de Janeiro on July 20. We met able candidates in Caracas, Venezeula too on July 24." Says Wolfgang Prock-Schauer, chief executive officer, Jet Airways, "We have over 550 pilots now and by 2008, we plan to have over 1,000."
"On average, an expat will fetch a 30 per cent higher salary when compared to his domestic counterparts, which by itself is a whopping Rs 4.2 lakh per month," says Arya. SpiceJet too has applications from pilots based in Europe and US for its fleet. An official from Air Deccan says, "Training pilots is a lengthy process with a low success rate in India. We have ordered wide bodies aircraft for which deliveries are due from next year."
17/08/07 Shaheen Mansuri/Express TravelWorld

The surge in travel and aviation related careers doesn't seem likely to tide over in the near future and every training academy is determined to outdo the other by promoting its own unique selling point. One such academy is Speedwings Aviation Academy. Established in 1995, the academy offers UFTAA and IATA recognised courses in both the travel and aviation sector. The academy introduced seven new IATA courses at the start of 2007 and the tally of courses now stands at 23, ranging from airline call centre training to handling of dangerous goods, as well as courses in computer reservation systems. Courses span six months except for the one year intensive PG Diploma in the airline and airport handling management. The recently concluded 23rd convocation in Kochi saw 350 students being awarded diplomas in their respective fields of study.
The courses are specially tailored to equip students with skill based knowledge.
Sunil Chopra, IATA manager, India, added to the institute's repute by saying, "India contributes 30 per cent of the international revenues of IATA in terms of training. Speedwings is doing an aggressive job by adding 350 new IATA agents every year." He also went on to address some pressing concerns that IATA as a body was addressing.
Speedwings recently signed a contract with Amadeus to offer training in reservation systems and to issue certificates on behalf of Amadeus and is the only institute in India authorised to do so. Eapen is of the opinion that this is an excellent opportunity for students to understand how central reservation systems (CRS) work.
17/08/07 Express TravelWorld

Bangalore: State-run Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) has forged a joint venture with Canada's CAE to set up a $55 million pilot training school in Bangalore and drawn up plans to establish a facility to manufacture multi-role combat jets.
"We have entered into a joint venture with CAE of Canada. The pilot training school will be operational in September next year," Ashok K Baweja, chairman, HAL told reporters.
The school will primarily train pilots of the indigenously built advanced light helicopter Dhruv. It would also take up turn-key training programmes for pilots of other helicopters. Baweja saw a market for 300 Dhruvs in India.
CAE is a world leader in providing simulation and modelling technologies and integrated training solutions for the civil aviation industry and defence forces. Its annual revenues exceed Canadian $1 billion.
16/08/07 Press Trust of India/Business Standard

New Delhi: The runway to becoming a pilot has been made smooth, at least as far as taking examinations are concerned. Now, you may apply online, get an admit card, take your exams and know the result instantly. Moreover, examinations would be modelled on a format similar to TOEFL and GRE. The infrastructure for the same would be put in place in four months in all the major cities.
Currently, about 89,000 candidates appear annually for several tests conducted by the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA). “We are now planning to conduct all exams such as commercial pilots, aircraft engineer and flight despatchers online....For all exams, questions will have multiple-choice,” a civil aviation ministry official said.
“The candidates would have to book a slot for the exam and go to the examination centre. They would get the result soon after they complete the online exam,” he added.
The ministry of civil aviation had suggested the DGCA to bring in examination-on-demand system based on internet.
15/08/07 Nirbhay Kumar/Economic Times

Mehsana: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today dedicated the Mehsana Airport for civil aviation training and expressed happiness that the state has entered the air flight training sector with private partnership.
Mr Modi said that Gujarat, which was the pioneer state to start the first rail track through private partnership, has now entered into the civil aviation sector, and is also in the process of foraying into ship-making and ship-maintenance through private partnership.
The new centre for air flight training will facilitate our youth to explore aviation related career options, he said.
The centre for the civil aviation training has been the result of an agreement that was signed during the Vibrant Gujarat Investors Summit 2007 between the State Government and the Amdavad Aviation Association and has been developed on 64 acres of land.
14/08/07 UNI/NewKerala.com

New Delhi: A number of steps are being taken to meet the requirement of additional trained Air Traffic Controllers to man the newly established ATC workstations to handle the increased growth in air traffic. This information was given by Shri Praful Patel, Minister for Civil Aviation in the Parliament today.
The Minister said that during the last two and half years, 371 Junior Executives (ATC) have been inducted in Airports Authority of India (AAI). Steps are being taken to fill up 148 additional posts of JE (ATC). AAI is also utilizing the services of retired ATCOs whenever possible. It has also been programmed to recruit 100 ATCOs every six months by the AAI for a period of two years to meet the additional requirement.
14/08/07 Press Information Bureau (press release)

New Delhi: Globally, airlines outsource their manpower, other than pilots, and cabin crew to focus on key areas.
HR outsourcing not only helps carriers to cut costs but is also critical for survival of a low-cost model. Though the trend is not visible in India, airlines are firming up plans to outsource their manpower requirements to enhance efficiency and cut costs. But the biggest hurdle they face is the government policy which does not allow airlines to outsource their security, line maintenance and certain other HR functions.
“Globally, airlines outsource around 70-80% of their manpower requirements. Air India outsources cleaning jobs, call centre, home guards and other such on-ground jobs, which account for less than 10% of HR activities...,” says an Air India official.
The airline is considering outsourcing loaders and recruitment activities. Kingfisher Airlines outsources all blue-collar jobs like loaders, drivers etc to vendors like Nova and LiveWell.
It has outsourced its call centre to different agencies in four cities.
For a low-cost model, outsourcing is important. Globally, the low-cost carrier (LCC) model thrives on outsourcing.
“At present, we have over 4,500 (around 50% of total employee strength) outsourced employees all over India,” an Air Deccan official told ET.
For SpiceJet, the HR outsourcing accounts for a minimal 5-7% of its total manpower requirements.
Dearth of quality service providers is also deterring airlines as it’s not just about what is being outsourced but to whom it is being outsourced.
15/08/07 Vishakha Talreja & Dheeraj Tiwari/EconomicTimes

Pune: To cater to the needs of a booming aviation sector and to provide more skilled manpower, the University of Pune (UoP) will soon be starting job-oriented courses in aviation mechanics as part of its “community college” scheme.
The concept of community college refers to colleges offering certificates, diplomas and associate degrees in technical or adult education. The UoP also plans to launch community colleges for various other disciplines for students from the lower economic strata.
The decision to start with a course in aviation mechanics was taken after considering the rising demand for technical experts in aviation in the state, especially with aviation giant Boeing investing over.
$ 100 million to set up a multi-million dollar Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility at Nagpur. “There is now a high need for skilled personnel in the aviation sector,” said Vice Chancellor Narendra Jadhav.
While the modalities of the course are still being worked out, Jadhav said part of the course would involve basic training provided at the UoP. “We are now trying to tie-up with Boeing’s partner company in the US, so that students can spend one year at the community college in Seattle,” said Jadhav.
Students who have passed standard XII will be eligible for the course, and will be chosen on the basis of their scores in mathematics and science. Jadhav said the course was likely to start within six months. “If all goes well, the first batch of aviation mechanics course would be held between January and June 2008,” he said.
13/08/07 Pune Newsline

Chennai: City-based High Flier Training and Education Services will offer complete consulting services for students who wish to enrol for the pilot training course offered by the Australian National Airline College (ANAC).
The course, spanning about 45 weeks at the ANAC in Melbourne, will fetch candidates a license issued by the Australian Civil Aviation Authority. Later, if candidates prefer to work in other countries, they could take the tests conducted by the respective aviation authorities.
Candidates above 18 years, with an aviation class one certificate can apply.
High Flier will select suitable candidates, counsel them and facilitate their admission into the ANAC.
Speaking at the press conference organised in this connection, ANAC’s International Manager Craig Mckenzie said the course would cover about 235 flying hours.
In order to attract international students, he said the ANAC had tie-ups with organisations in Malaysia, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
14/08/07 The Hindu

Kolkata: Delhi-based Inflight Airhostess Training Institute (IAHTI) has decided to expand its operations to the eastern region and is particularly eyeing the smaller towns.
"We have decided to expand after 13 years of operation in Delhi. Eastern region is a focus zone in the expansion roadmap. We have opened our first office in association with a local partner and we will rollout more offices in other locations of the eastern region," IAHTI promoter Pammi Talwar said.
The institute will have branches in Orissa, Bihar and the North East besides West Bengal.
IAHTI has tied up with Balaji Educational Development Corporation for setting up training centres in the eastern region. Balaji provides outsourcing solutions for practical classes of engineering and technology colleges in West Bengal.
Currently, it has five branches in India and one each in Nepal and Bangladesh.
12/08/07 PTI/Economic Times

Chennai: With the Indian aviation industry opening more vistas for qualified pilots, Melbourne-based Australian National Airline College (ANAC) on Saturday beckoned Indian students to join its pilot training programme.
ANAC, located in the sprawling Moorabin airport at Melbourne, is equipped with 22 aircraft, both in single-engine double-seater and twin-engine categories, ANAC Manager (International) Craig Mckenzie told reporters here.
According to the official, anyone above the age of 18 could enroll for the programme and the candidate must have passed English proficiency test conducted by International English Language Testing System (IELTS) by the Cambridge University.
The programme was approximatey of 45 weeks duration and would cost roughly around Rs 25 lakh, Mckenzie said.
ANAC had appointed city-based High Flier Training and Education Services to recruit students and assist them in counselling, co-ordinating their medical tests and guiding them on loans offered by various banks.
11/08/07 PTI/Economic Times

Mumbai: Expatriate pilots hired by airline operators in India will henceforth have to undergo the ‘air regulation examination’ conducted by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) like their Indian counterparts. They will also have to submit an authentification certificate from the licence issuing authority of their respective country, in addition to their commercial pilot licence (CPL
In a communication to airlines last month, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has also made it mandatory for airlines to verify that the pilot has a valid endorsement on his license of the type of airplane he would be flying. Currently, there are 498 expat pilots in India employed by various airlines.
According to the current rules, a pilot has to complete 700 hours of flying before being hired by an airline. Also, before hiring, it must be ascertained whether they have had experience in flying in heavy monsoon conditions. However, these norms would now be extended to expat pilots.
Meanwhile, HR officials from Kingfisher and Jet Airways, amongst other airlines say that they are scrutinising all aspects of the probable candidate to be hired by their company. They shall comply with the DGCA norms while recruiting the pilots.
09/08/07 Shaheen Mansuri/Indian Express

Foreign architects, locksmiths and aircraft engineers will find it easier to get work in Australia under changes to the country's skilled migration program.
Migrants with skills in occupations considered to be in demand, such as those with labour shortages, have a better chance of being accepted by the immigration department for skilled work in Australia.
Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews and Employment Minister Joe Hockey today announced 10 additions to the Migrant Occupations in Demand List.
These were architects, avionic and mechanical aircraft maintenance engineers, quantity surveyors, external auditors, computing professionals, locksmiths, painter-decorators, furniture finishers and optical mechanics.
The addition of aviation engineers would help Australia remain competitive in aircraft maintenance, Mr Hockey said.
Foreigners who have experience in occupations on the list get extra points when applying for skilled migration visas, improving their chances of being accepted into Australia.
09/08/07 NEWS.com.au, Australia

Englewood, California: Jeppesen has teamed with Ordinate Corporation, the leader in spoken language assessment, to provide Aviation English testing that meets the new International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standard for minimum English proficiency for all international flight crews. By March 2008, all pilots and air traffic controllers who fly internationally, or work international flights, must demonstrate ICAO level 4 (Operational) language proficiency as a licensing requirement. The requirement applies to both native and non-native speakers of English. Through an exclusive agreement with Ordinate, Jeppesen Academy is providing the ICAO-compliant Versant Aviation English Test as a final test or practice exam that is administered via telephone.
Future pilots and air traffic controllers will also be required to meet the minimum language proficiency. In order to address this need the Versant Aviation English Test and an English training course have been integrated into training curricula at Jeppesen-partner aviation schools, including Emirates Aviation College, Asia Pacific Flight Training in Malaysia, and Horizon International Flight Academy in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. Jeppesen is also working with other training providers and National Aviation Administrations around the world to offer the required Aviation English training and testing.
"The March 2008 deadline for the new ICAO Aviation English standard for international flight crews is coming up very quickly," said Kirk Quong Sing, general manager, Jeppesen Commercial Aviation Training Services.
"....This testing solution works very nicely with our distance learning training solution should a pilot or air traffic controller test below the required Level 4 standard."
For additional information call 1-303-328-4423 in the Western Hemisphere, or +49(0)6102 50 8272 in the Eastern Hemisphere.
09/08/07 PR Web (press release), US

After spending about Rs30 million to buy state-of-the-art Boeing flight simulators, of two of the most advanced aircrafts — the Boeing 777 and the 787 Dreamliner — Air India finds it has no place to install them.
The simulators landed in Mumbai in November 2006 for installation in the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport premises so that its pilots could be trained on them.Air India is expecting four 777-200LR by the end of 2008 and 22 Dreamliners by September 2008.
t was keeping this in mind that the simulators were ordered well in advance and were to be installed on the Kalina side of the international airport near AI’s operations building. As there is no indication of simulators becoming operational soon, the airline continues to send its pilots for training on these aircraft to Alteon in London.
For all these wide-bodied aircraft, a set of six to eight crew members is required to be trained. And the airline needs about one pilot per week to match its growth plans.
08/09/07 Manisha Singhal/Daily News & Analysis

Mumbai: Avalon Aviation Academy, a leading cabin crew training institute plans to start a two-year post-graduate diploma in aviation management.
The institute is tying up with the Mumbai University for this diploma course, which will extend training in ground handling, airport management and cabin crew work.
The decision to start the aviation management course comes at a time when over a dozen airlines are awaiting the government's permission to fly. The World Travel and Tourism Council estimated that by 2010, India alone would have at least 1.15 jobs in the aviation sector.
"Avalon is setting up a special residential campus at Neral (near Matheran) in 6-lakh square feet area for the proposed course. The campus, which will house 480 students, will have swimming pool, gymnasium and a library," Preeti Malik, vice-president (aviation training), Avalon Aviation Academy, said.
An official source said the institute would have a tie-up with the University of Mumbai for this PG diploma course.
"Graduates of any discipline can apply for the two-year PG diploma course. The course fee is about Rs 2,50,000. Avalon is also guaranteeing internship with leading airports and airlines," said an Avalon executive.
08/08/07 P R Sanjai/Business Standard

Promising a safe landing into the future, today more than 250 airhostess training institutes all over the country claim to provide a soaring career in aviation and hospitality. But with such dream jobs coming at a hefty cost, do these training institutes really deliver?
Frankfinn Institute claims to be the sole one providing the international vocational qualification of B.Tech HNC among the airhostess training institutes along with job assistance for 18 months after the completion of the course.
On the other hand, institutes like the Air Hostess Academy (AHA) claim to provide placements with reputed national and international airlines like Air Sahara, Air Canada, British Airways, and Jet Airways, offering a two-year and one-year diploma course in Aviation and Hospitality Management.
Seeing the hefty fee demanded by these institutes that are mushrooming in every nook and corner of the cities, it is important for students to carefully examine the placement records and quality of qualification offered by them.
The students studying at these institutes, on their part, have mixed views on this. “Joining the two-year diploma course in the academy has been quite a waste, the staff is non-serious and placement assistance is just a gimmick. Even the selection procedure is faulty; everyone appearing in the written test is selected, no matter how she performs. It pricks to have paid over a lakh and not having gained anything worthwhile,” says a student at a leading institute.
“In the last three batches of my institute branch, nobody, except one girl, has got a placement with any airline,” she claims.
“The training offered in these institutes is not in tune with the training undertaken for airlines. So, the value of the course is nil. I have friends who have had training from these institutes but are still unable to land a job in the industry,” points out Dimple Madnani, Airhostess, Jet Airways.
“In fact, some airlines prefer to have freshers over the ones possessing such certificates as they are considered to be naturally smart and fit for the job rather than making them fit for the job.”
On the other side, Adiba Siddiqui feels her training at an institute has made her confident and patient, providing the right grooming required for the job. She attributes her career in Gulf Air to the institute.
“The course has helped me to gain more confidence and a vivacious personality, I was quite an introvert before. This course has helped in social skills and interaction with passengers,” says an airhostess with Jet Airways.
So, what does it take to become an airhostess?
“Airlines are constantly on the lookout for high calibre, confident candidates with excellent interpersonal and communication skills. Maturity, positive attitude and a focus on service are other desired traits. Some basic criteria are a minimum age of 21 at the time of application, a minimum arm reach of 212 cm (on tip toes), education till at least high school and medical fitness to meet aircrew requirements,” says a spokesperson for Emirates Airlines, which provides on-the-job training to selected candidates at the Emirates Aviation College in Dubai.
“While recruiting the cabin crew it is not important whether the candidate possesses a certificate or diploma, as long as the candidate meets the required criteria by the airline,” she adds.
“The objective of the recruiters for the airline is often not on a par with the objective of the training institutes. While airlines insist on quality crew, the institutes are interested in luring more and more students in order to make some money. Thus, the student intake from the institutes is quite low,” says Surajit Banerjee, Vice President, HR, Spice Jet Airways.
“We have an intake of 10-15 per cent of cabin crew from the training institutes,” he mentions.
A piece of advice he gives to the institutes: “They need to be selective while giving admissions to the students.” He feels a certificate from a training institute acts as an added qualification for the candidate as it helps at the time of on- the-job training provided by the airline.
So, to have the money, glamour and travel on your side, it’s important to take off on the journey sensibly, keeping in mind lots of things before choosing an institute.
08/08/07 Anisha Ralhan/The Tribune

Mumbai: The new Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) for Flight Duty Time and Flight Time Limitation (FDTL) would mean, among other things, more rest period for pilots between flights, less flying time for pilots holding managerial positions, more rest period for pilots operating at night, pre-scheduled weekly offs and so on.
"Airlines would need 20% more pilots if the new CAR has to be implemented," says Capt Mohan Ranganathan, a Boeing 737 instructor pilot.
A Jet Airways spokesperson said that the airline would honour the August 16 deadline. An IndiGo spokesperson said they had started the process. Some private airlines preferred not to comment.