AAI to Set Up Flying Schools at Six Airports

The CivilAviation Ministry has approved a policy to set up flight training organisations (FTO) or flying schools to meet the growing future demand for pilots in India, and selected six smaller airports including Jalgaon in north Maharashtra to set up the schools.Airport Authority of India (
AAI) chairman Arvind Singh said along with Jalgaon, airports at Belagavi and Kalaburagi in Karnataka, Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh, Lilabari in Assam, and Salem in Tamil Nadu have been chosen and competitive international bidding process could be announced soon to select the FTOs.

The policy is based on the recommendations by a committee under the chairmanship of Air Chief Marshal (retired) Fali H Major, a AAI Board member, which examined the existing flight training infrastructure and its problems. Indian aviation sector is projected to require over 9400 trained pilots over the next five years and nearly 30 per cent of aspiring pilots have to travel to foreign flight training schools and the courses are expensive as they have to pay in foreign currency.

He said the six airports were chosen as they had lesser flying activity but adequate land and other resources to set up the FTOs. Jalgaon airport, for example, has only Trujet operating five flights per week on Jalgaon-Mumbai sector, and daily flights on Jalgaon-Ahmedabad sectors.

According to the approved policy, land will be allocated to selected FTOs on a 25-year lease and the infrastructure developed by the operator at the airport will be handed over to the AAI at zero cost at the end of the lease period. A maximum of two FTOs will be allowed at each of the six AAI airports and each will be allocated a maximum ground area of 5000 sq m including hangar, airside and city-side facilities.

The policy gives two options for paying the lease fee. The first option offers the lease fee either will be calculated at 10 per cent of the prevailing AAI lease fee and it will be increased by 15 per cent every third year. The second option computation of the concession feed on the basis of flying hours multipled by the concession fee rate for per flying hours decided through the transparent bidding process. The bidding for concession fee rate payable to AAI for per flying hour will start at Rs 500 per flying hour and the minimum concession fee will be Rs 15 lakh per annum calculated at minimum 3,000 flying hours.

The policy states that the highest bidder will be issued the letter of award as the first FTO at that airport, and the second highest bidder will be given the right to match the bid price of the highest bidder. The FTO will have to furnish a bank guarantee equivalent to 12 months lease fee and commence operations within 12 months of signing the lease agreements. The agreement will be terminated if the FTO does not complete the minimum requirement of 3000 flying hours per year for three consecutive years.

AAI will also consider allowing the FTO to set up his own Air Traffic Control facilities subject to approval by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and if such ATC services are allowed, then the operational hours will be maximized, the policy said.

Source: IndiaTimes