The Hindu Business Line : Govt to sign pacts with global flight training institutes

Mumbai June 11 The Union Aviation Minister, Mr Praful Patel, on Monday said the Government was in the process of signing MoUs with international flight training institutes for setting up training facilities in the country.

The Government is expected to sign a couple of MoUs at the Paris air show slated later this month, he said at the third Annual Aviation and Tourism Investors Summit organised by the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) here.

New facilities

The proposed new facilities will train both pilots and other engineering and technical staff in the airline industry.

The chief objective of MoUs with international institutes was to enhance the quality of aviation training in the country, the Minister said.

Mr Patel said the Government was also looking for joint ventures in non-aeronautical development around the 35 new airports coming up across the country.

The proposed joint ventures will be on the private-public partnership model. He reiterated the Government's 2020 vision that nobody in the country should live beyond 50 km from an airport. The Minister said the Government was also planning to beef up infrastructure development for the industry, including facilities such as satellite navigation systems.

Regarding the airline industry's losses, the Minister said no business was expected to rake in profits from the beginning. He told the airlines to view the trend as "initial investments for a platform of growth in the future."

Stating that air cargo services presented bright business opportunities in India, he said the Government was planning to strengthen related infrastructure such as cold storage facilities. Mr Andrew Miller, Principal Consultant, CAPA Consulting, said the level of expertise at senior levels in the aviation industry was low in India. At the CEO level, very few have prior airline management experience as compared with those in other markets, he said.

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