UP gets airborne, comes up with three flying clubs

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh will now churn out pilots. Three flight training academies and an aircraft maintenance engineering institute are coming up on the state-owned airstrips on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.
Last week, three flying clubs of the country — Chetak, Ambition and Pioneer — received the No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA) to set up their flight training academies on the airstrip in Aligarh.
The Chetak Flying Club is also setting up the Uttarakhand Academy of Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Institute along the airstrip.
The institutes have initiated the admission process. Rajiv Khandari, the Chairman of Mumbai-based Ambition Flying Club, said: “We began the admission process from September 12 immediately after getting the approval from the DGCA. The training classes started from September 15.”
Saroj Joshi, the Chairperson of Delhi-based Pioneer Flying Club and daughter of BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, said: “Our institute will become operational in about a month.”
In July 2007, the Mayawati Government had decided to hand over all the 12 state-owned airstrips to private investors for setting up of flying training academies and aircraft maintenance engineering institutes on PPP model.
The airstrips — located in districts of Ambedkarnagar, Ghazipur, Sultanpur, Aligarh, Meerut, Farrukhabad, Faizabad, Kushinagar, Sonebhadra, Lakhimpur Kheri, Shrawasti and Etawah — used only for VVIP movements till now.
Under the present agreement, a private investor is required to pay Rs 3 lakh per year for initial five years to the government, after which the contract will be renewed with a 50 per cent hike in the charges. The state government is providing the airstrips, hangars and terminal buildings to the investors on a 30-year lease.
22/09/08 Alka Pande/Indian Express