The Hindu Business Line : `Excellence Aviation Academy offering courses on all aspects of the sector'

Mumbai April 17 Excellence Aviation Academy or EAA, claiming to be the country's first academy for training people to the requirement of aviation and ancillary industries, will offer courses in hospitality, travel, tourism, cargo and security.

The academy management told presspersons that of the required 150 professionals for each aircraft, pilots and in-flight crew form only 30 with the rest made up of technical and non-technical personnel like customer service, check in staff, security, cargo handling, ramp operations, etc.

Mr Parvez Damania, Chairman, EAA, said emphasis would be on training manpower in smaller cities. With more than 400 new aircraft booked by various airlines in India and limited space available in Mumbai and New Delhi airports, the companies will have no choice but to park them at other airports. The academy estimates the demand at 40,000 for non-technical staff in the near future. "We want to have our own centres and manpower ready to be employed (by these airlines)," Mr Damania said.

Growth prospects

The academy is also pinning its growth prospects on modernisation of 80 small airports and the Nagpur Multi Modal Hub, which would require 20,000 personnel spread across every facet of aviation, academy officials said.

It will be finalising a tie-up with Dubai Aviation City in a month where 1,00,000 personnel would be required in the next five years, the Chief Executive Officer of EAA, Mr Prasan Yedekar, said.

In the first phase, the academy would be starting 24 centres on a franchisee model in Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Allahabad and other places. Also, Livewel Aviation Services will be EAA's partner in overall ground handling training and franchisee for Mumbai and Delhi. While the centre in Bhopal and Jabalpur will kick-start by May 15, the others will begin by early June. Excellence Aviation Academy is also looking at starting a pilot training school in Kolhapur later this year. Refusing to divulge more details, Mr Damania said licence was awaited from the Director General Civil Aviation's office.

The academy would make an investment of Rs 10 crore in the centres over two phases, the EAA Director, Mr Vispi Damania, said. "We are looking at a revenue of around Rs 12 crore in 2007-08 and Rs 25 crore next year," he added.