Aviation India: Careers

India's civil aviation authority last month stopped certifying U.S. pilots over the age of 60, disrupting the plans of pilots who'd been recruited to fly the dozens of jets ordered by Indian carriers.
Mumbai-based Jet Airways, which had hired Noonan to fly Boeing 777s on international routes, sent him home to California last month. About 30 Jet pilots have petitioned the FAA to intervene on their behalf, Marty Noonan, 61, who retired from Continental Airlines last year and who also is pursuing a Canadian license, said. They've also applied for Canadian licenses, a process than usually takes between 20 and 40 days for qualified American airline pilots.
"We are in the process of responding to the Indian government," said FAA spokeswoman Alison Duquette. She adds that the FAA's position is that "it's fine with us" if the Indian government accepts U.S. pilots with a current license and medical certificate.
Meanwhile, Mike Ballard who is about to retire from United Airlines after a service of 29 years spends his days rehabbing a bathroom in his Colorado home and preparing to take the written exam prepared by Transport Canada, that country's civil aviation authority.
Ballard said he needs a Canadian license to land a job with Air India that would help offset the pension he lost during United's bankruptcy.
That's a big change after six years as the captain flying Boeing 777s. But Ballard says he became resigned to a rocky retirement after United eliminated its employee pension plans in 2005, a move that cost him about 75 percent of his retirement pay.
30/09/07 Julie Johnsson/Chicago Tribune, United States

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat government has tied up with India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) for providing free training to SC graduates in air-hostess, travel and hospitality management course. Currently 98 girls are taking part in the programme.
Among them are Taruna Barot from Sami in Patan, Nita Rathod of Khedbrahma in Sabarkantha, Darshana Jadav from Diyodar in Banaskantha, Hetal Dafda from Timbavadi in Junagadh and Saroj Pungera, Maliya, Jamnagar. "For middle-class, SC girls like us, this is one chance to prove that those who come from the challenged sections of society can come up in life, given an opportunity," says Nikita.
"My father could not afford the money charged by private training institutes, so this government advertisement was a godsend," said Rekha Makwana of Dhanduka.
Their sheer enthusiasm and determination, has helped them tide over the obvious culture shocks and challenges that have come their way.
"We have been running a similar programme successfully in Bangalore for the last two years. From the first batch that we trained there, thirteen girls were hired by Indian," said Kuldeep Verma, general manager, ITDC.
30/09/07 Rahul Mangaonkar/Times of India

New Delhi: Even while 37 applications for setting up flying academies are pending for government clearance, the inexpensive fees of commercial pilot training courses in the US, South-east Asia and Australia, compared to India, are forcing aspiring pilots to go abroad.
While the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uraan Academy (IGRUA) — an autonomous flying institute under the central government — charges around Rs 19 lakh for its training course for a commercial pilot licence, a flying institute in the US charges around Rs 16 lakh for the same course.
What is more, the training period in the US academies is six months, while it can take up to two and a half years in India.
Even South-east Asia works out cheaper than India. Malaysian flying academies offer courses that take about a year but cost between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 12 lakh. The Philippines, which is one of the cheapest countries in the world for getting a pilot’s licence, charges Rs 9-10 lakh.
Australia offers a range of academies giving training for Rs 16-18 lakh.
While there are 42 training institutes in the country, of which only 25 are operational (14 are state-operated and 11 are run by private entrepreneurs), they have the capacity to churn out 300- 400 pilots annually, leaving a yawning gap of 600-700 pilots.
The private flying schools in India charge about Rs 16 lakh, which is at par with what is charged in the US.
But most of them do not offer multi-engine aircraft training, unlike in foreign academies. This training is necessary to get entry into any premier airline company in the country or the globe.
State-owned flying institutes charge a little lower, in the range of Rs 10 lakh.
29/09/07 Anirban Chowdhury/Business Standard

Mysore: The Centre Head of Frankfinn Institute of Air Hostess Training, Mysore, Mamta Arun, felicitated Ahana Nanda, a student of Frankfinn who got selected by Indigo Airlines as cabin crew, in a campus interview organised by Frankfinn recently.
Ahana had to go through seven rounds of interview before receiving the offer letter from Indigo Airlines. Ahana will now under-go training at Indigo Airlines, Delhi, for two months and then start flying.
Ahana was the first student to join Frankfinn and she was the first student to get placed also. Apart from her, there are other students who have cleared interviews, but they are yet to receive their appointment letters.
28/09/07 Star of Mysore

DGCA has revised the list of admitted candidates for AME License Examination October 2007.

• Bangalore
• Chennai
• Hyderabad
• Kolkota
• Mumbai
• Delhi
• Others

DGCA dirtects the candidates to check their particulars for correctness of allotted
papers / centres etc. In case of any discrepancy, it should be IMMEDIATELY
brought to the notice of the Central Examination Organization, East Block-III,
R.K.Puram, and New Delhi-110 066, through Speed-post or Fax (No. 26196307)
Candidates MUST bring DGCA PHOTO-ID card for entry in to the examination Hall.
See this and other announcements here

New Delhi: Indian pilots’ penchant for flying bigger aircraft and their disinclination to sit in cockpits of smaller aircraft, such as ATRs (40-70 seats), may force some airlines to rejig the delivery schedules for smaller aircraft into their fleet.
To tide over the issue, airlines are being forced to hire expat pilots to keep their ATR flying. Already around 80% of all ATRs in the country are being flown by expat pilots. For instance, Kingfisher’s ATR fleet of 12 aircraft is managed by 60-odd expat pilots. In case of Air Deccan, which has 23 aircraft, over 50% of ATR pilots are of foreign-origin.
To overcome the shortage, airlines are also seeking relaxation of Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) norms for pilots to fly different types of ATR aircraft. As per current regulations, pilots trained on ATR-42 must clock at least 100 hours of flying time in the co-pilot’s seat in an ATR-72 before they qualify as an captain.
With airlines such as Kingfisher and Deccan set to take delivery of 20-odd ATRs over the next 12 months, the problem may become acute.
In a recent meeting with DGCA officials, senior executives from ATR have suggested changes in Indian regulations, namely doing away with the 100-hour flying requirement. They have also proposed that Indian and French aviation regulators should work together over the issue.
Foreign pilots too have been complaining of non-standard visa procedures in the country, which essentially depend on the origin country of the pilot.
28/09/07 Sudipto Dey/Economic Times

When Vijay Mallya launched Kingfisher Airlines, he brought a new look to the Indian skies. And one of the highlights of the facelift was the introduction of 'flying models'- the young, glamorous and all-female cabin crew handpicked by Mallya himself.
But now two years later the increasing number of male flight attendants find themselves deprived of the opportunity to be a part of the cabin staff of one of the country's best paying airlines.
While Kingfisher pays a salary of Rs 30,000 per month, Jet pays Rs 28,000 and Deccan pays Rs 25,000.
Kingfisher argues that it has perfectly good reason to hire an all-women staff.
''Women are traditionally associated with warmth, hospitality and symbolise a welcoming attitude. Add to that a glamour quotient and the traveler takes home a near perfect flying
experience,'' said Rajesh Verma, Exec VP, Kingfisher.
While other airlines like Deccan and Jet hire male attendants, the ratio is still 1 man to every 7 women.
27/09/07 Kajori Sen/New Delhi

Tomorrow's pilots are finding fewer instructors to train them as airlines whisk up new employees with fewer and fewer flight hours, warned NBAA exhibitors at the show this morning.
Exhibitors representing schools from coast to coast report sending graduates to airlines without first hiring them as instructors, which is the traditional path to gaining experience and educating the next class.
“They can go straight from graduation into right-seat jobs, and that was not the case even two years ago,” said Jon Merwin, who assists Embry-Riddle (booth 3231) graduates with job placement.
Schools used to have a surplus of instructors and wish they still did as the mass migration of students from China and India is increasing demand. As demand overwhelms supply, many schools bump up salary and add benefits for the first time, and some report they are forced to increase tuition to do it.
A new program will link bonuses to time spent with trainees, and the weekend's dress code has been extended to week-long. That helps instructors enjoy themselves, and people who enjoy training are the ideal candidates, he says.
Globally, the new multi-crew pilot licenses are putting non-pilots into airliners within a year, helping ease the severe worldwide pilot shortages. Simulation plays a bigger role with MPL, but not in the USA, where the Federal Aviation Administration is not exploring this possibility.
“Pilots entrusted to fly the public should have a broad background of coming up through the ranks of general aviation - student, private, commercial, instrument - or through the military,” the FAA says.
26/09/07 Jeffrey Decker/Flight Daily News/Flight International

Bangalore: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and CAE, a Canadian firm, today signed an agreement here to set up a joint venture company that will open a helicopter simulator training centre in the city, the first of its kind in India devoted specifically to serve civil and military helicopter customers in the region
Helicopter Academy to Train by Simulation of Flying (HATSOFF), the new unit, would be owned equally by HAL and CAE and it is expected to begin operation in late 2008, providing both civil and military helicopter pilot and maintenance training services.
As part of the joint venture, CAE would design and manufacture one full-mission simulator featuring CAE's revolutionary roll-on and roll-off cockpit design, which enables cockpits representing various helicopter types to be used in the simulator.
26/09/07 The Statesman

Pilots are probably one the highest paid professionals in India with salaries ranging from five lakh rupees a month to over Rs 10 lakh depending on the aircraft they fly and their experience. Over the past 3 years poaching had sent remunerations spiraling. But in the past 12 months salaries have begun to stabilise.
"Salaries have stabilised because pilots now must give 6 months notice to quit,” adds Ajay Singh, Director, SpiceJet.
Experts say that in the next few years there could actually be a dip in salaries as it happened in the US and Britain. Most airlines have introduced their own training programs, the govt has increased the retirement age and eased the norms of getting in, and airlines are in a consolidation mode. All this has eased the pilot shortage in India.
Still, some say the relief is temporary. Once airlines have consolidated and are set to take on the skies again, pilots could become a precious resource once again.
25/09/07 Moneycontrol.com

Fatal plane crashes this year in Indonesia and Thailand have put the issue of pilot competency in the spotlight, and in Australia there are warnings that our own commercial air safety could be compromised by a proposed new licensing system for copilots.
By any standard, 2007 has been a horror year for commercial air safety. It started on New Year's Day when an Indonesian 737 crashed, killing everyone on board.
Two months later in Yogyakarta, another Indonesian airliner exploded after careering off the end of a runway. Twenty-two people, including five Australians, died.
Earlier this month, 89 people were killed when a Thai plane crashed in bad weather on the resort island of Phuket.
Australia's air safety watchdog is overseeing a trial in Brisbane of a new system that involves a greater emphasis on flight simulators than on actual air time.
The trial is being carried out by the Airline Academy of Australia, in conjunction with Boeing, and involves one of the most advanced flight simulators in the world.
Its supporters say it gives budding pilots a better idea of extreme conditions behind the controls.
But critics say it means trainees with just 10 hours' actual flying time could receive what is called a multi-crew pilot's licence, or MPL.
Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) spokesman Peter Gibson says human error can be reduced by the scheme.
"Now if we can train our crews from day one in their pilot training to look for those errors that they're making, to look for the mistakes they can make, to look for the threats to safety and to identify those accurately and take actions to avoid them, then we can avoid accidents."
If the new regime is implemented in line with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) guidelines, trainees could qualify for a commercial copilot's licence after just 10 hours solo flying in an actual plane.
The news editor of Travel Weekly, Justin Wastnage, says the new scheme "spits out" copilots.
With the economies of China and India booming, and more people flying than ever before, there is a huge shortage of pilots, meaning the pressure is on to train more.
"If we look at what the national civil aviation organisation is telling us, for the next 18 years or thereabouts we're looking at a deficit of about 80,000-odd pilots," Former RAAF commander Stewart Cameron said.
Richard Chen from Taiwan hopes to graduate from the Airline Academy of Australia in six months and then head home to fulfil his passion for flying while also landing a lucrative job.
"ICAO has introduced this new class of licence called a multi-crew pilot's licence, which really is a speeded-up version of the commercial pilot's licence, essentially spitting out some copilots rather than fully-trained captains with a lot of work done in simulators rather than flying small aircraft," he said.
This sounds like a great plan to turn out a lot of pilots rapidly, but some observers are concerned it may compromise safety.
Former RAAF commander Stewart Cameron is the chief executive officer of the Airline Academy of Australia and is the man in charge of the trial.
"This is the first time in nearly 50 years we've actually looked at a way of changing the training," he said.
The academy simulator can certainly test would-be pilots by replicating some of the most challenging flying conditions.
Pilots can do battle with blinding rain and severe cross-winds, but old hands like Mr Somerville warn that nothing beats the real thing.
But CASA's Peter Gibson says modern simulators are incredibly sophisticated.
"You can do things in them that you simply can't do in an aircraft," he said.
"You can pretend you've got an engine failure in a 737 by shutting down the engine and making the pilots go through that drill. You can't do that in a real aircraft."
But Mr Gibson argues that under the current system, many would-be commercial pilots spend too much time flying irrelevant, single-engine aircraft.
"It's a mix of flying in aircraft. You've still got to do your basic flying training, but then you'll move more quickly into simulator where you can learn to fly in the environment that you're going to be operating in, in other words in 737s, 747s and most importantly, with two pilots, learn to work as a crew," he said.
The trial of the multi-crew pilots licensing system will wrap up next year, and CASA will then invite the community to comment on it. Mr Gibson says after that, the decision will be made whether or not to implement it.
25/09/07 Mark Willacy/ABC Online, Australia

New Delhi: Indian airline companies are getting ambitious; they not only want to bridge the supply gap in the domestic market but also want to train manpower in huge numbers so that the surplus is recruited by foreign airlines.
For instance, India’s largest private airline Jet Airways is in the process of creating a large pool of pilots to serve the domestic as well as international markets. Other airlines like SpiceJet plans to stop hiring expat pilots from 2008-end while Deccan is already taking steps to reduce their intake of foreign pilots.
Says Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal: “We want to create a large pool of pilots to meet our needs and those of foreign airlines such as British Airways or Lufthansa. If our bankers and computer engineers can be hired by foreign companies, why not our pilots?”
Jet Airways has tied up with Brussels-based pilot training school, Sabena Flight Academy, to train 200 pilots every year. Mr Goyal says his company will bear the entire cost of training pilots.
In view of the booming aviation sector and consequent rise in the demand for pilots, several training schools have come up in India. Most of these schools send trainees to the US, Europe or South East Asia for training.
Most Indian airlines, such as Deccan and Kingfisher, are entering into strategic tie ups with international training schools, part financing some part of the training programme of pilot aspirants.
Matters will ease as airlines start getting their own training simulators in the country from 2008 onwards. Both SpiceJet and Deccan have already started programmes for reducing dependence on expat pilots.
The ministry of civil aviation has already set the ball rolling for an aviation sector Manpower Plan for the next 20 years. The plan-of-action is to create an aviation manpower pool within the country to meet the growing needs of the domestic industry and also position India as an HR sourcing hub globally.
25/09/07 Sudipto Dey & Sanjeev Choudhary/Economic Times

New Delhi: About 1,500 appointment letters are expected to be issued by various corporate organisations to ex-IAF personnel within the next one month after the "placement fair" held in the capital over the weekend, the IAF announced on Monday.
In fact, such was the extent of interaction that the schedule of interviews conducted by corporate bodies would extend till Tuesday despite the fact that the fair was meant to be just a two-day event on Saturday and Sunday, IAF officials said.
A large number of ex-IAF personnel expected to be offered appointment letters were those who had served in the IAF’s technical branches, IAF officials said.
An estimated 3,000 ex-IAF personnel participated in the placement fair, hoping to be recruited in the corporate sector. "There were more than 20,000 CVs circulated to corporate organisations during the fair," an IAF official said. An estimated 48 corporate organisations were associated with the fair. ‘According to the IAF, these included ICICI, Kalinga Commercial, Ahmedabad Aviation and Aeronautics Ltd., Godrej and Boyce, Tata Steel, Wipro, Bajaj Capital, Vishal Retail, Bhaskar Power Project, Relcom Group, HCL Infinet and the state-owned Pawan Hans Helicopters.
The ex-IAF personnel participating in the fair included those who had 15 to 20 years experience in Flying, Navigation, Air Traffic Control (ATC), aeronautical engineering, technology management and engineering work experience, education management, finance and logistics management and security. Civil aviation organisations like the state-owned Pawan Hans helicopters are among those who participated in the fair. Pawan Hans is looking to recruit ex-IAF helicopter pilots for its expanding helicopter operations.
The rapidly-growing civil aviation sector is ever on the lookout to recruit pilots and technicians. State-owned carrier Air India had earlier entered into an agreement with the IAF for absorption of pilots.
24/09/07 The Asian Age

Addressing IACC’s 4th Indo-US Economic Summit today in New Delhi, Ms Kathryn Taylor, Mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma, US said that the US and India can have strong partnership in the field of aerospace, aviation training and maintenance.
The Mayor said that the City of Tulsa is a major hub for aerospace in the US and over 300 aerospace firms are functioning in the city. The Indian aerospace industry would grow exponentially in the coming years in view of the increasing passenger and cargo traffic. The passenger traffic is increasing by 25 per cent every year. Cargo traffic growth is not far behind. India needs help in terms of resources and expertise for consolidating this growth, particularly for acquiring more aircrafts and maintaining them.
Significantly, Mayor is leading a delegation of businessmen from Tulsa, who are actively taking part in the deliberations of the Indo-US Economic Summit.
Referring to the training needs of the aerospace industry, Ms Taylor said that India needs 4000 pilots in the next few years to man the aircrafts that she is going to acquire in the next few years. By 2020, India might need more than 20,000 pilots. Specialized institutions based in the US for training pilots can meet these huge manpower requirements, she added.
24/09/07 Moneycontrol.com

Washington: Jack Norman has interviewed for a job with Air India and has sent applications to corporate jet companies. Neither option pays nearly as well as his senior position at Continental. Fortunately, his children are out of college.
''It all boils down to being told you can't [work] anymore for no other reason than a birthday,'' he said. ''I view myself at the top of my game.''
Norman wants to keep flying for his airline, but only an act of Congress can keep him in the cockpit.
Like thousands of his colleagues, Norman, a commercial airline pilot, is about to be forced out of the industry by a decades-old rule that says commercial pilots must retire when they turn 60. Norman has five months to go before he gets his marching orders from Continental Airlines, where he flies Boeing 777s around the globe out of Newark Liberty International Airport.
''Any way you slice it, we are being discriminated against,'' said Norman, a 59-year-old Bethlehem resident, as he trekked across Capitol Hill on a trip here last week to lobby lawmakers to change the rule. ''It is about fairness.''
For years, older pilots have pushed to change the rules only to watch legislation fall agonizingly short in Congress.
This year could be different. The International Civil Aviation Organization -- the international regulator for the industry -- upped its age limit for captains to 65 last year, the Federal Aviation Administration came out in favor of an age change and the Air Line Pilots Association followed suit.
Momentum is on the pilots' side: Measures to change the rule are moving through Congress with broad bipartisan support. But the process is slow and time, for some, is running out -- 200 pilots a month turn 60.
The FAA issued the age 60 rule in 1959 out of what it said were safety concerns after a labor dispute between American Airlines and its older pilots. For decades, challenges to the rule were swept aside by the courts.
''We really hadn't seen any evidence that changing the rule would enhance safety,'' FAA spokeswoman Alison Duquette said Friday.
But with increasing support for a new age limit in recent years, pressure has mounted on Congress and the FAA to act.
''The opposition has melted away,'' said 58-year-old Paul Emens, president of the Airline Pilots Against Age Discrimination, who has been fighting the issue for years, just as his father did before him.
In January, a few months after the International Civil Aviation Organization upped its retirement age, the head of the FAA announced its intention to follow suit through a rule-making change that would take at least a couple of years to complete. Four months later, the Air Line Pilots Association, which had long opposed the move, came out in favor.
One group that remains opposed is the union for American Airlines' 12,000 pilots, the Allied Pilots Association. Gregg Overman, association spokesman, said internal polls show that American Airlines pilots are against the change by a 7-to-1 margin. Upping the age limit to 65, he said, is as arbitrary as 60.
23/09/07 Josh Drobnyk/Allentown Morning Call, US

New Delhi: The Indian Air Force has organised "a placement fair" for its retiring "air warriors" in New Delhi on September 22 and 23, Sahara Samay sources said.
"Close to 40 companies have already registered for the fair so far," said an officer.
"Every year, a large number of highly-trained, disciplined and multi-skilled personnel retire from service at a relatively younger age of 35 to 54," he said.
"The corporate world can benefit from hiring such personnel, who have at least 15-20 years experience in flying, navigation, air traffic control, aeronautical engineering, technology management and the like," he added.
The problem of a second career for armed forces personnel — over 60,000 of them retire every year — is of course quite acute.
Indian Air Force pilots, of course, face no problem in getting jobs in the booming civil aviation arena. In fact, Air Force authorities had to tighten controls to prevent pilots from leaving the force in large numbers. But job opportunities for personnel from other streams still remains a problem.
23/09/07 Sahara Samay

Kolkata: The Behala Flying Club will get a fresh lease of life after a decade and half when Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel lays the foundation for an airport there on Sunday.
The airport on the southern fringe of Kolkata will develop into a modern facility for regional flights within a year and also train pilots, S P S Bakshi, Regional Executive Director (East) of the Airports Authority of India said.
An agreement has been signed between Behala Flying Club and Camelia Flying Training Institute, which has taken it over with an investment of about Rs 35 crore to train pilots.
The AAI has sanctioned Rs 10 crore for upgrading the runway, installing ground lights and building a boundary wall, Bakshi said.
The air traffic control tower has been equipped with a VHF set to provide navigational support, while steps are being taken to strengthen the runway.
Tenders have been floated by the AAI for installing approach lights on either side of the 3,500-foot runway and to build a boundary wall to facilitate operations by ATR aircraft. The work is in progress, Bakshi said.
In the second phase of the project, the runway will be extended to 4,500 feet and a passenger terminal building will be built the West Bengal government allots land and develops infrastructure for easy access to the airport.
22/09/07 PTI/Economic Times

Kolkata: Even as the Behala Flying Training Institute (BFTI) is all set for a partial re-opening on Sunday after a gap of two decades, a high voltage drama is going on behind the scenes. Two corporate groups — Pailan Group and Camellia Group — are fighting a pitched battle, with both sides trying to vest control of the institute.
Both the groups enjoy the support of CPM bigwigs. While Pailan chief Apurva Saha is close to state Transport Minister Subhash Chakrabarty, Camellia has Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee as the Chairman of the Advisory Committee of one of its institutes — the Bengal Institute of Technology and Management.
While the Airports Authority of India (AAI) had leased Hangar 2 (H2) to Camellia Group, there is a dispute between the Pailan and Camellia groups over Hangar 1 (H1).
The story dates back to 1963, when in an agreement with the Civil Aviation department, the AAI had leased out H1 to the state Transport department for Re 1. No time period was specified in the agreement. This year, the state government decided to sub-lease HI, and after a tender was floated, it was offered to Pailan Group. In a letter dated January 5, 2007, the state Transport department informed the Pailan Group that it had emerged as the highest bidder and it should seek the necessary clearances from the AAI and the director general of civil aviation for starting operations.
Even after so many months, Pailan Group is still awaiting the mandatory clearance from the AAI. It was learnt that the AAI did not kindly take to the state Government sub-leasing HI.
According to AAI sources, the state Government had not consulted it before floating the tender for BFTI.
During this period, AAI let out H2 to Camellia Group for a one-year period, which comes to an end this December. And even as the Camellia Group began its courses in H2 and the Pailan Group insisted that it had been leased out H1 by the state Government, in an advertisement published in a leading daily on March 16 this year, the AAI once again invited a tender for setting up a flying training institute.
Now, Pailan Group has appealed to the Calcutta High Court to ensure that the BFTI deal is a transparent one, and also look into the reasons for Pailan being refused AAI clearance even though it had been sub-leased H1 by the state government.
Meanwhile, both the groups are ready with their aircraft. Camellia Group has already began its courses with the first batch of 25 students for ground operations and technical training having enrolled in June this year. On the other hand Pailan Group also claims to be ready with one Cessna aircraft and another helicopter for its flying training operations.
23/09/07 Suchetana Haldar/Expressindia.com

Brussels: Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal is in talks with Belgian companies for setting up a hotel; running a pilot training academy and starting an MRO facility in India.
Brussels Airport has been under-utilised since 2001. Though it has a capacity to handle nearly 30 million passengers annually, the airport (now run by an Australian company) gets a traffic of just about 17 million.
On the other hand, Indian carriers face a problem of getting slots in choked Indian Metro airports. So in a mutually beneficial move, Belgium laid out the red carpet once Jet decided to make Brussels its European hub. Apart from major job creations, it also hopes to get more Indian tourists now. Goyal wants to extend this partnership to solve other infrastructure woes too.
''The Sabena Flying Academy at Brussels Airport will be used to train pilots. Every year we will select 200 science students/engineering graduates and send them for training here,'' he said at the Brussels Airport earlier this week.
In addition, Jet is also talking to SN Technik of Sabena for setting up an MRO. The airline has tied up with Sabena's successor, Brussels Airlines, for providing connectivity to 54 European cities to Jet passengers flying in from north America or India into Brussels.
22/09/07 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

Airline pilots in USA fighting to keep flying into their 60s won a key victory Thursday when the U.S. House of Representatives voted to raise the mandatory retirement age for commercial pilots to age 65 from 60.
The proposal is part of a sweeping bill that would authorize $68 billion for the Federal Aviation Administration over the next four years, funding that would be used to revamp the nation's aging air-traffic-control system and overhaul airports.
A provision that would raise pilots' retirement age is also in the FAA reauthorization bill pending before the U.S. Senate.
However, the measure is a long ways from becoming law.
The new retirement age could be stripped out of the bills as they wind through the lawmaking process. And the White House has threatened for other reasons to veto the version that the House approved 267-151. That vote total is less than the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto.
"We're over another hurdle and on to the next hurdle," said Paul Emens, 59, a Southwest Airlines captain who is chairman of Airline Pilots Against Age Discrimination, a group that advocates changing the retirement age for pilots.
After decades supporting a rule requiring commercial airline pilots to retire by their 60th birthday, the FAA earlier this year signaled that it now supports raising the retirement age to 65, the standard adopted by the authority that sets rules for international aviation.
It pits younger pilots eager to gain the seniority that brings better pay and choice assignments against older pilots who, in many cases, want to keep working to offset retirement benefits that were scuttled by carriers in bankruptcy.
Also fighting the measure are pilots reaching retirement age at carriers like American Airlines, which avoided bankruptcy and preserved its employees pensions. Those counting on retiring at age 60 don't want to see their benefits reduced.
Others contend that pilots in their 60s aren't able to rebound from jet lag and fatigue as easily as younger colleagues.
"For us, it's a no-brainer," said Gregg Overman, spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, an independent union that represents American Airline pilots. "As far as we're concerned, age 60 should continue to serve as a highly effective safety regulation."
Since November 2006, federal authorities have allowed pilots up to the age of 65 at foreign carriers to fly aircraft in the U.S., even though pilots at domestic airlines are prohibited from doing so.
That inconsistency is infuriating to pilots who wish to extend their careers and spurred a raft of legislation in Congress. At least five bills introduced in the House or Senate this session have provisions that would raise pilots' retirement age to the international standard.
21/09/07 Julie Johnsson/Chicago Tribune, United States

It all started with a pseudonym in the college magazine. KS Kohli signed off as Frankfinn in his early writings just because he felt the word sounded nice. Later, when he tried to register his first company in that name, authorities initially rejected it saying the name did not sound Indian. It was the clippings from the old college magazine that eventually got him the registration. Thus in 1993, Mr Kohli started Frankfinn Medico Infoservices with Rs 40,000, borrowed from a friend.
Mr Kohli was attracted to the aviation industry soon, especially as the government adopted a liberal policy. Frankfinn gave up medical data business and started providing flight attendant training. It also got renamed Frankfinn Aviation Services.
He started a seven-day basic cabin crew training. His team toured across India conducting the training sessions. The response was very good and so were the placements. The main office was in Janakpuri, Delhi.
He soon set up a chain of training centres and Frankfinn Institute of Air Hostess Training was born. The unit set up its first centre at Andheri in Mumbai. The curriculum was modified to suit the need of the hospitality, travel and aviation industries and the duration was extended to one year. Today, the network has 117 centres in 95 cities. It has also leased an Airbus A300 to impart real-time training.
Frankfinn’s students have been placed in national and international airlines and also in hotels. Best known is its tie-up with Air Deccan, which Frankfinn forged in 2006. Under this arrangement, Deccan hires cabin crew from this institute exclusively.
The Rs 250-crore company plans to start a low-cost airline Air Frankfinn by end 2009 for which it aims to get funds from the capital market with an IPO.
21/09/07 Mahul Brahma/Economic Times

Kolkata: Rossell Tea, which has recently diversified into civil aviation, plans to step up activities in the sector. For starters, the company will shortly set up aviation academies along with an overseas joint venture partner. Apart from this, the company is looking at acquisitions in the aviation equipment space to expand business. Rossell Tea may also be rechristened Rossell Ltd for taking up the aviation business in a big way.
Talking to newspersons on the sidelines of the company’s AGM in Kolkata on Wednesday, chairman HM Gupta said: "The civil aviation industry in India is witnessing a boom. There is an acute shortage of manpower in this industry and most of the airlines are recruiting people from abroad. We felt that there is a huge vacuum in the aviation training sector. This compelled us to take the decision to set up aviation academies in the country. We have identified an overseas partner for this and the deal is expected to be finalised within the next one month."
Aviation school is the latest buzzword among students, as India would require around 7,500-8,000 pilots and an equal number or more cabin crew by 2010. Heavy pay packets are awaiting pilots with a commercial pilot licence.
20/09/07 Economic Times

Thiruvananthapuram : Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said the Rajiv Gandhi Aviation Academy in Thiruvananthapuram would be revived.
A chief flight instructor and four ground instructors would be appointed for training of pilots, he said. Besides, a ground school would be established as part of the Academy.
20/09/07 The Hindu

Pune: In normal circumstances, the recruitment of candidates from Pune’s Air Hostesses Academy (AHA) by Reliance, Jet Airways and Airports Authority of India (AAI) wouldn’t raise eyebrows at all. But add a fact about their background, and it paints a different picture.
As many as 27 girls, from the tribal areas of Nandurbar and Chandrapur, have been picked by industry biggies for training. Only two years ago, a 100-odd had been chosen by AHA during a mass selection drive in Nashik.
Stunningly, of the 27 trainees comprising the first batch of enrolled students in the city, the employment firms rejected none. What’s more, the AAI took one of their batches to handle the traffic control rooms. AHA director Daya Prakash this was only a start. “In Maharashtra alone, our target is to register and train as many as 2,000 students,” he said.
It all started when AHA’s success at gearing up tribal girls — to make a mark in the service sector — inspired Minister of State (Home) Manikrao Gavit to push their cause through sponsorship. Under the Central Special Assistance Scheme launched in 2005, AHA received Rs one lakh per student, to facilitate enrollment and training of as many as 100 students in the academy.
Under the scheme, a mass selection was executed in Nashik about a year ago. Of the 450 applicants, 250 were screened by the tribal commissioner on the basis of AHA’s requirements, of which 100 were picked.
19/09/07 Neha Madaan/Expressindia.com

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has received 37 proposals for setting up flying training institutes in various parts of the country. Of these, five are from Maharashtra, five from Tamil Nadu, four from Rajasthan, three each from Bihar, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Gujarat, two each from Karnataka and Chhatisgarh and one each from Uttranchal, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa. These proposals are being processed by the DGCA.
There are 42 flying training institutes in the country of which 26 are operational and provide training for various licenses like Private Pilot License, Commercial Pilot License, etc. Fourteen of these operational institutes are run by various State Governments, while the Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRUA) is an autonomous society under the Central Government. The remaining 11 institutes are run by private entrepreneurs. All the institutes have to conform to the requirements laid down by DGCA.
Sixteen flying training institutes were found to be not conforming to the guidelines laid down by DGCA. Their licenses have therefore not been renewed.
19/09/07 Express TravelWorld

Mumbai: A huge shortage of pilots for flying commercial planes may have caused private airlines and the government to lower standards for recruitment, veteran pilots and industry watchers feared, a trend that is potentially dangerous.
Flying institutes without enough equipment and instructors, co-pilots who are younger than 20 years and the large number of foreign pilots, many of whom are unfamiliar with the local topography and climate, are symptoms of this skills shortage, they said.
“Pilot training is the backbone of the industry,” said Captain Yash Raj Tongia, a pilot who runs and teaches at an eponymous flying school in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. “The Indian aviation sector needs at least 4,000 more pilots over the next five years, but most flying schools in are yet to upgrade their quality.” More than half his students are dropouts from other institutes, fed up of waiting for instructors to come on board.
Almost half the 320 pilots who got licences last year were trained abroad. Domestic airlines together have 350 aircraft, flown by 4,500 pilots — including 1,100 foreigners.
Take the training institutes. Out of the 41 approved flying schools in India, 16 have shut down or are on the verge of closure. The remaining ones have only 32 instructors in all.
The country’s rules also allow a person to become a co-pilot, who stands in for the pilot, after just six months of obtaining his or her commercial pilots’ licence. This means that many private airlines have co-pilots who are younger than 20 years of age. In the U.S. one becomes a co-pilot in a commercial airline only seven years after getting a licence.
“We recently increased our age limit for co-pilots to 21 years,” said Captain J S Dhillon, head of operations SpiceJet, and declined to comment about other airlines, whose chief executives were not available for comment.
“The Indian authorities don’t allow two 60-year-olds inside the cockpit, but they are fine with one 19-year-old and one 60-year-old!” exclaimed a veteran pilot, who did not want to be identified.
Kanu Gohain, the director general of civil aviation, defended the rules. “Once the candidate has fulfilled all the criteria including fight tests, there is no harm if he or she is 19 years old,” he said. “We issue licences after a well-laid-down procedure, and in fact, the younger lot are more sharp and receptive.”
19/09/07 Lalatendu Mishra/Hindustan Times

Mumbai: Three firms that train cabin crew and other staff for India’s booming aviation sector are looking to sell shares as part of an initial public offering (IPO) next year to raise money to fund their expansion plans. Some of the firms are also wooing private equity (PE) funds.
Air Hostess Academy Pvt. Ltd (AHA), Frankfinn Institute of Air Hostess Training and Avalon Aviation Academy are the firms lining up IPOs. Apart from training cabin crew, these firms also train people in various aspects related to the functioning of airports and airlines, including ground handling, ticketing and customerrelationship.
AHA plans to open centres in Australia and the UK by next year. According to estimates by World Travel & Tourism Council, India will have at least 1.5 million openings in aviation and related industries by 2010. In 2007 alone, AHA estimates show, India’s private airlines will create 8,000 new jobs.
The Mumbai-based Frankfinn Institute is also in talks with private equity firms even as it prepares for an IPO by mid-2008.
Mumbai-based Avalon Aviation Academy is also considering an IPO, according to a company executive who did not wish to be identified. The executive added that the company is not looking for PE investors.
17/09/07 P.R. Sanjai/Livemint

Government’s refusal to give permission to use foreign cabin crew in domestic flights has not deterred liquor baron Vijay Mallya from giving an international touch to his domestic airline operations. Kingfisher Airlines has shortlisted over 50 expats professionals — largely from East European countries — to be placed at major metro airports as guest service relations (behind check-in counters and assisting passengers).
“Once they get a firsthand experience of the Indian operations, they would be deployed on international flights as cabin crew,” said a senior Kingfisher executive. The first batch is expected to be seen at major airports by November this year.
This would be a run-up to Kingfisher launching its international operations by April next year, if the government relaxes the mandatory five-year domestic operations norm for private airlines.
Kingfisher had in July sought DGCA’s nod for flying expat cabin crew in domestic routes. But Government put its foot down over the issue.
17/09/07 Sudipto Dey/Economic Times

Kingfisher airlines is now hunting for Type Rated Pilots in Australia. Ads were out inviting qualified and experienced pilots to attend interviews at Sydney and Brisbane for the posts of Type Rated Examiner, Type Rated Instructor, Type Rated Line Captain and Type Rated First Officer. The Sydney interviews were arranged at Hotel Sheraton on the Park, Hyde Park, Sydney on 11 & 12 of this month and the second batch were interviewed at Hotel Hilton, Brisbane on 14 & 15.
Though these dates are well past, Ads are still appearing in Internet sites.
May be Type Rated Pilots to fly ATR 72-500 and Airbus A 319/320/321/330/340 were not that abundant even in Australia. See the full advt here or here.

New Delhi: The huge success story of India's B-schools & tech schools — the IITs & IIMs — is now set to be repeated in the aviation sector with the government turning its attention towards flying schools.
Considering that there's a big boom in the aviation sector, it's not really a surprise that the Prime Minister's Office has primed the ministry of civil aviation to draft a policy document for setting up an 'aviation university' on the lines of international institutions.
Ministry sources say that the proposed university will be a registered autonomous body and its administration will be based on the lines of IITs and IIMs. The ministry is also forming a group of experts to examine the various models for setting up the university. The varsity will initially be located in Delhi and Mumbai which accounts for more than 50% of the air traffic.
The expert panel that will work on the university project, will have eight members, consisting of a vice-chancellor of a renowned university, officials of DGCA, HRD and the civil aviation ministry, and people from industry and aviation associations. The committee will first give shape to the objectives of setting up the aviation university and the broad areas and disciplines which will be covered by the curriculum such as ground handling and technical training for pilots and engineers.
16/09/07 Raja Awasthi/Economic Times

As an African-American teen, Barrington Irving assumed sports was his best chance at getting out of his inner-city Miami neighborhood.
"I thought football would be my way on to college," said Irving, a high school standout who received several scholarship offers.
But his passion was flying and he rejected scholarships to work toward his dream of flying solo around the world. And this year Irving, 23, became the youngest pilot and first African American to do so, a three-month trip that ended June 27.
"I really encourage you all to pursue your dreams," he told an enthusiastic crowd at the IdeaFestival in Louisville yesterday. "Don't let anyone stop you."
The crowd, which gave Irving a standing ovation, included students and teachers from the Shawnee High School Magnet Career Academy's flight program, who said they were inspired by Irving's one-hour talk.
Irving drew laughter from the crowd when he described washing airplanes and other menial jobs to earn money for flight school to get his pilot's license. "I did whatever it took," he said.
Early on, Irving decided he was going to fly solo around the world -- but lacked an airplane. So he began persuading manufacturers to donate parts and convinced a company to build his plane.
His biggest feat, Irving said, was talking his way into a five-minute meeting with the president of an aircraft engine company where he asked for an engine. The president listened to him in silence and walked out, Irving said.
Two weeks later, the company agreed to donate an $83,000 engine.
He crossed the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and his route took him to such places as Canada, Spain, North Africa and Hong Kong. At times, he wondered if he would survive flying through thunderstorms, monsoons and sand storms -- often in desolate areas.
"I'm very fortunate to be alive," he said. "Honestly, I shouldn't be alive."
Irving said his goal now is to encourage young people, especially minority youths, to consider careers in aviation. He said an airline pilot who befriended him as a teenager was his inspiration.
He has opened the Experience Aviation Learning Center in Miami, where youths can learn about flying, and plans to expand into other cities. And he hopes to continue telling young people that sometimes they have to pursue their goals even if no one else believes in them.
15/09/07 Deborah Yetter/Louisville Courier-Journal, US

Demand for pilots is picking up rapidly, both in the U.S. and around the world, particularly in China and India. U.S. commercial air travel is expected to grow by 500,000, to 1.2 billion passengers by 2020, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Domestically, airlines are increasingly finding it more efficient to fly smaller planes, which means more-frequent flights, requiring more pilots.
Uncle Sam will help some by raising the mandatory retirement age to 65. Look for the FAA to issue a rule later this month allowing one pilot of a commercial flight to be over 60, as long as the other one isn't. The International Civil Aviation Organization recently approved a fly-until-65 standard, making it easier for the FAA to follow suit.
But airlines still face an uphill battle for more pilots. They'll struggle to fill about 12,000 jobs this year and are looking at having to fill another 20,000 openings by 2009 because of retirements and other factors.
To meet the demand, airlines are offering $5000 signing bonuses and $1000 or more to employees for referrals that lead to a hire. In addition, airlines will soon offer to pay at least some of a pilot trainee's schooling costs if he or she commits to working for the airline after graduation. Costs aren't cheap -- they typically run from $175,000 to $200,000 per pilot. Regional carriers, which are especially hard hit by shortages, are also lowering experience requirements from 1500 hours to 250, the FAA minimum.
14/09/07 Martha Lynn Craver/The Kiplinger Letter/Kiplinger.com, US

New Delhi: An IAF Placement fair would be hosted at Air Force Auditorium premises in Subroto Park New Delhi on 22 & 23 Sep 07 for its Air warriors who have left the service. The IAF placement fair is being conducted under the auspices of Air Force Records Office (AFRO), New Delhi.
Every year a large numbers of highly multi-skilled personnel retire from the service after completing their terms of engagement at a relatively younger age group of 35-54 years. These ex-air warriors are hardworking and dedicated and form a pool of highly trained human resources from which the corporate world can benefit immensely. Finding or assisting suitable placements for these ex-air warriors is the main purpose of this ‘Placement Fair’.
Those who leave the IAF have at least about 15-20 years experience in Flying, Navigation, Air Traffic Controlling, aeronautical engineering, technology management and engineering work experience, education management, finance and logistics management, security, driving, catering etc.
ICICI as the lead sponsor for the IAF Placement Fair is participating with five of its companies. Kalinga Commercial, Ahmedabad Aviation and Aeronautics Ltd and Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co Ltd have become the Associate sponsors for the Placement Fair.
Other important companies are Tata Steel, WIPRO, Bajaj Capital, Vishal Retail Ltd, Bhaskar Power Project, Relcom group and HCL infinet just to name a few. As on date 36 companies have registered.
Air India Express and Pawan Hans have signed MOUs with the Indian Air Force and have already absorbed experienced personnel from the IAF.
14/09/07 Press Information Bureau (press release)

Chandigarh:The setting up of three Flying Training Institutions (FTIs) at Patiala , Ludhiana and Jalandhar got a kick start with Punjab Government through international competitive bidding seeking Expression of Interest to develop these world class institutions under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
Stating this here Thursday, Civil Aviation Minister Punjab Upinderjeet Kaur said that the State Civil Aviation Department has worked out a plan to impart initial flying training of international standards to the thousands of Punjabi youth desirous of becoming pilots. To execute these developmental projects the Feedback Ventures Private Limited is assisting Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB) and the Civil Aviation Department under PPP format, she added.
She further added that the selected bidders would develop and maintain the flying clubs into a world class FTIs and would operate atleast 7 single engine and one twin engine flying aircrafts as per the standards and guidelines of Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Department of Civil Aviation Punjab. For efficient operation of FTIs the successful bidders would have to install state of the art simulators, hangers, navigational and communication system, flight