Bafna Air keen on starting helicopter training institute in India

Mumbai: Mumbai based Bafna Air– a private jet charter service company is keen on starting Commercial Helicopter Pilot License (CHPL) institute in India by January 2010. The company is going to offer 25 seats per year with a minimum of 210 hours of training. For the same, it has tied up with Hawaii based Mauna Loa Helicopter institute for technical support and course structure. Bafna Air has submitted the applications and documents to Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and is awaiting approvals. The company has selected few sites in Osmanabad, Surat, Latur and Solapur.
Talking about the potential of helicopter training institute in India, Arun Lohiya, CEO, Bafna Air, said, “Due to growing heli-tourism segment, there is a huge demand for trained helicopter pilots in the market. With negligible number of quality helicopter training institutes in India, most aspiring helicopter pilots from the country go to US for professional training. It is a similar story in other South East Asian countries. By tying up with the one of the top US training institutes, we are going to bring international expertise to India.”
According to Lohiya, the institute will offer training at a lower cost (between INR 20 lakhs – 25 lakhs) compared to US (more than Rs 30 lakhs). The company wants to attract students from neighbouring and South East Asian countries for training at the institute.
21/08/09 Anita Jain/TravelBizMonitor