India to get eight new flying training academies

These academies will be set up at Belagavi, Jalgaon, Kalaburagi, Khajuraho and Lilabari airports.

These five airports have been carefully chosen since they have minimal disruption due to weather issues and civil/ military air traffic, the Ministry said.

The set-up of these eight FTOs is aimed at making India a global flying training hub and to prevent the exodus of Indian cadets to foreign FTOs, the Ministry said.

Additionally, these FTOs will also be designed to cater for the flying training requirements of cadets living in India's neighbouring countries.

This initiative will help the Indian flying training sector in becoming more self-sustaining under the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative, the Ministry said.

Airports Authority of India had invited bids for the same in November 2020. The award letters were issued on May 31 to winning bidders: Asia-Pacific, Jetserve, Redbird, Samvardhane and Skynex, the Ministry said in a statement.

The parameters set for prospective bidders included familiarisation with aviation safety aspects, regulatory mechanisms, experience in the field of training pilots on manned aircraft, the availability of equipment, and trainers among others

''To make FTOs attractive for bidders, AAI reduced the minimum annual rental significantly to Rs 15 lakh. Furthermore, the concept of airport royalty was scrapped to make these ventures business-friendly,'' the statement read.