Gujarat company to revive Orissa aviation institute

Bhubaneswar: The Orissa government will sign an agreement with Gujarat’s Ahmedabad Aviation & Aeronautic Ltd (AAAL) in July to revive the Government Aviation Training Institute (GATI) in the state. This will be done via public-private-partnership (PPP) with the newly floated AAAL company, HBE Global Avionoutic Ltd (GAL). The project will be done under the lease-develop-operate (LDO) financing model.
Six firms evinced interest in taking over the institute following a government tender, which had been floated last year. Besides AAAL, Flytech Aviation Ltd, Secunderabad; Jupiter Aviation & Logistics (P) Ltd, Bangalaore; New Delhi-based Asia Aviation Ltd, Mesco Airlines and TouchWood Entertainment Ltd participated in the bidding process.
Established in 1947 as a flying club, GATI used to impart training for student pilot licence, private pilot licence and commercial pilot licence. Passouts from the institute were placed in Indian Airlines, Air India, Kingfisher, Reliance, Deccan Aviation, Garg Aviation, IMFA and OSL. The institute, which became non-functional from 2005-06 owing to resignation of pilots and lack of government support, has two training aircraft, spacious hanger and runway space.
According to the PPP agreement, GAL will use the available facilities of the institute on a lease basis to train students. It will develop GATI as a full-fledged commercially viable state-of-the-art aviation academy capable of providing multi-level training for commercial pilots, aircraft maintenance, ground staff and cabin crews.
11/06/08 Financial Express