anirban das

Being a pilot or an air hostess could be anybody’s dream career. The job involves lot of traveling, glamour and lot of money. It is a well-paying job so youngsters dream to pursue a career in aviation. In fact, all jobs related to the aviation sector are lucrative. However, it is also a rigorous job and demands a lot out of you and involves a certain amount of risk on daily basis. The work hours are generally long but the perks are high. One also gets to travel the world while on the job and meet interesting people. All these things make a career in aviation a very sought after option. Also, with the upcoming travel industry and the upgradation, liberalization and privatization of airports, there is a huge demand for the people who have done career training in aviation.

 

Today, there are many state-run and private training schools that provide pilot training and air hostess training. Different schools offer aviation courses of different duration.

It is always advisable to take up courses related to the aviation industry from a recognized and prestigious career institute. Aviation courses mainly include training about flying operation, aircrew, aircraft, air traffic management, technical aspects of flight, aviation safety, regulatory policies and economics of airport.

 

The Indian Institute of Aeronautics based in Delhi offers 3-year AME Licence Training Programs, as approved by the Director General of Civil Aviation. For enrolment in the course, one has to apply as per admission notice displayed in newspapers. The courses usually commence in July every year. For foreign students, admission is subject to security clearance from the Government of India.

 

Indian Institute of Aeronautical Science based in Jamshedpur offers a course in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering. The course usually commences in January and July every year. The admissions are done on the basis of merit list prepared on an entrance examination. The duration of this course is three years and it is divided over six months, which includes six months on the job practical training on flying aircraft. The eligibility for this course is that the candidate must have passed Intermediate Science, 10+2 (or its equivalent) with 50% Marks in Physics & Mathematics or a 3-year Diploma and degree in any branch of engineering with minimum 50% marks. Foreign students shall have qualification equivalent to any prescribed above or “O” level of U.K. or equivalent.

 

Another good institute is Avalon Aviation Academy, which is an enterprise of Aptech Limited. It offers the following courses: Diploma in Professional Cabin Crew Services, Diploma in Professional Ground Staff services, IATA / UFTAA- Foundation Course, Certificate Course in Fares & Ticketing Virgin Atlantic/ GTMC Courses and Personality Development courses. Avalon Aviation Academy has centres in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune etc.

 

The state owned institutes include: Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Udan Akademi, Rae Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh Aviation Academy, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, Amritsar Aviation Club, Amritsar, Punjab, Bihar Flying Institute, Patna, Bihar, Bombay Flying Club, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Gujarat Flying Club, Vadodara, Gujarat, Government. Flying Training Institute, Bhubaneshwar, Orissa, Government Flying Training Institute, Kolkata, West Bengal, Government. Flying Training School, Bangalore, Karnataka, Haryana Institute of Civil Aviation, Karnal, Haryana, Haryana Institute of Civil Aviation, Hissar, Haryana, Haryana Institute of Civil Aviation, Pinjore, Haryana, Ludhiana Aviation Club, Ludhiana, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh Flying Club, Indore, Madhya Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh Flying Club, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, Madras Flying Club, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Northern India Flying Club, Jallandhar, Punjab, Patiala Aviation Club, Patiala, Punjab, Rajasthan State Flying School, Jaipur, Rajasthan, UP State Flying Training Institute, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar Flying Training Institute, Port Blair, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Assam Flying Club, Guwahati, Assam, Banasthali Vidyapith Gliding and Flying Club, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, Aviation Training Academy, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, Delhi Flying Club, New Delhi, Kerala Aviation Training Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, Nagpur Flying Club, Nagpur, Maharashtra, Jamshedpur Cooperative Flying Club, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand.

 

There is wide ranging scope in India for those who successfully complete courses in aviation. One may find jobs in aerospace / aviation engineering, aviation maintenance, flight crew, management aviation, civil aviation department of India, avionics, cargo management, reservation sector, cabin crew, operation executive, air hostess etc. The major companies in aviation include Sahara India, Kingfisher Airlines, Indian Airlines, India International Airways Ltd., Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., Deccan Airlines, Trans Asian Aviation, Bird Group, and many others.

 

To be a pilot the basic prerequisites are that you must have completed your Class XII under the 10+2 system or its equivalent with a minimum of 50 per cent marks in Mathematics and Physics. Minimum 16 years of age is required to be eligible for a Private Pilot License and 17 for a Commercial Pilot License. The vision in one eye must be perfect. General physical fitness is also mandatory.

 

Before going for the plunge, one must remember that however glamorous and exciting it may sound, the job requires intensive training and risk. A pilot is responsible for the lives of passengers as well as the aircraft itself.

Sristy


It may be noted that in the last two years many a new airlines have come to the fore in a huge way and many huge industries have declared their wishes to enter into this industry. Another major leap was the open sky policy of Government of India permitting the existing private airlines in India to fly to foreign destinations. It does require a special mention that with such expansions planned by major aviation companies and new companies formed there is a vast manpower requirement. Qualified manpower is in huge abundance in India but they need a proper direction to capitalise on this surge in industry. When the human resources needed by these companies were less in number, it was easy to tap from a huge HR bank but when the demand for such HR increased they are finding it extremely difficult to maintain the quality of HR selected for these jobs especially when more and more foreign airlines are flying into India offering high salary packages forcing the better of HR to go with these companies.

It is important to mention here that Indian aviation industry grew by 20% second only to BPO industry in services sector and then comes the concept of no frills airline the market for which is growing vastly. Many no frills airline have already announced their plans to start services to India a few of them are Nok Air, Air Asia-Thailand, Air Arabia etc.

The boom in the aviation sector in India can be gauged by the fact that in one year, the number of people seeking pilot licenses and airhostess training has multiplied three times. In April 2005, it was 300. In April 2006, the number rose to 1045. The civil aviation industry is booming. Indian airlines placed orders for over 400 aircraft worth a whopping $30 billion for its operational requirements. That shows a requirement of 5600 pilots, 19000 airhostess or cabin crew, 24000 technicians, 36000 ground handling crew and various other related vacancies.

And these aviation industry vacancies are all fresh vacancies without including vacancies that may come up in the existing aircrafts.

Also the pay packages offered by the various Indian airlines have also seen an upward trend due to very few number of trained pilots and cabin crew availability. Hence there is an opportunity for you.



Indian Aviation is witnessing a mushrooming of new airlines especially low cost carriers. Besides the existing Air Deccan, newly launched Spicejet and value airline Kingfisher Airlines, there are Indus Airways, Air One, East West Airlines, Go Airways, Magic Air and Crystal Air who are getting ready to fly Indian sky soon. India is to see the launch of at least 14 such airlines. Low cost start-up carrier IndiGo had stunned the aviation industry by placing orders for 100 aircraft at a list price of over $6 billion last year.

It is anyone’s guess as to Human Resource Requirements, especially pilots, airhosess, flight attendants and other cabin crew, that are going to come up in the Aviation Sector. Demand is much above the number of people acquiring training for the same. Jet Airways along with Sahara India has about 47 percent share of the domestic aviation market, followed by Indian Airlines (28 per cent), Air Deccan (11 per cent), Kingfisher (6 per cent) and SpiceJet (5 per cent) as on October2006.

Jet Airways tops the list of domestic and national carrier operators with 8,168 flights operating till June 2005. Indian Airlines ranks second with 7,562 flights, followed by Sahara (3,225 flights), Air Deccan (2,889 flights), Spice Jet (483 flights) and Kingfisher Airlines (267 flights).

The sudden boom in Indian aviation has caught even the normally market savvy global aerospace manufacturers unawares. Recently, both Boeing and Airbus said they had underestimated Indian growth. This means global players are also coming into the scene.     

It wasn’t surprising since statistics compiled by Airbus Industrie showed that Indian carriers accounted for 327 out of the 2,140 firm orders for new aircraft that were placed with it and rival Boeing in 2005. This does not take into account the orders placed for smaller airplanes with other manufacturers like ATR and Dassault - which, too, are flooded with offers from private Indian carriers.

The Brazilian aircraft manufacturer, Embraer, is bullish on the prospects in the Indian market. Their forecast is that between 2006 and 2010, the demand for 30-120-seater planes in India would be around 165, which is about 40 per cent of the demand of the Asia-Pacific region. The value of these aircraft would be around $4 billion. They feel that a majority of the aircraft required will be in the 61-120-seat capacity segment. 70 per cent of these would be required for market growth while there would be a small demand for replacement.

Globalysis Ltd.forecasts growth in India’s aviation market, to be one of the fastest growing in the world, for the years 2007-2008. The Globalysis research report forecasts growth in India’s aviation market of approximately 28% in 2007 and 24% in 2008, for a total of approximately 52 million passengers being carried in 2008.

From the above given facts this is the right time to invest in a business opportunity and anyone with cash and liquidity can go in for the kill.