Winnipeg Aviation to offer pilot training in India

Cubex India, a company in Mumbai that sells and helps maintain mining and other heavy equipment, is teaming up with Canadian flight training school Winnipeg Aviation and Canadian education institution Red River College to establish an ab initio training school in India.
“We have shortlisted three airports in India,” Cubex India managing director Hemant Shah says from Mumbai.
One is a commercial airport and the others are non-commercial airports, says Shah, adding that “I prefer to have the school at a non-commercial airport so” there are fewer restrictions on flying.
Shah says he hopes to open the school within 12 months and it will start with a student intake of around 34.
It will have six primary trainer aircraft, a mix of Cessna 152s and Cessna 172s, and one Piper Seneca, says Shah, adding that he has had preliminary discussions with Cessna.
He says the school will start with three or four instructors, all of whom will come from Canada.
Canadian flight training school Winnipeg Aviation will be Cubex India’s main partner in the venture and the two companies are familiar with each other.
Cubex India has already sent Indian students to the Canadian flight school. Shah says 34 students were sent to Winnipeg Aviation in the Canadian city of Winnipeg and 11 have graduated, some of whom are now working for Indian carriers such as SpiceJet and Indian Airlines.
08/03/07 Leithen Francis/Flight International