Several steps taken for advancement of the flying training in the country

 The Government has taken several steps for advancement of the flying training in the country. These include the following:

1. Ministry of Civil Aviation has approved liberalised Flying Training Organisation (FTO) guidelines wherein the concept of airport royalty (revenue share payment by FTOs to AAI) has been abolished and land rentals have been significantly rationalised.
2. (ii) Airports Authority of India (AAI) issued award letters on 31 May 2021 and 29 October 2021 for nine FTOs to be established at five airports i.e. two at Belagavi (Karnataka), two at Jalgaon (Maharashtra), two at Kalaburagi (Karnataka), two at Khajuraho (Madhya Pradesh) and one at Lilabari (Assam).
3. Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has introduced Online-On Demand Examination (OLODE) for the Aircraft Maintenance Engineers (AME) and Flying Crew (FC) candidates with effect from November 2021. This facility allows candidates to choose the date and time from the available exam slots.
4. DGCA has modified its regulations to empower Flying Instructors with the right to authorise flight operations at FTOs. This was hitherto restricted to the Chief Flying Instructor (CFI) or Deputy CFIs only.
5. India’s largest flying academy – Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRUA) at Amethi (Uttar Pradesh) – has been permitted to carry out pilot training in Gondia (Maharashtra) and Kalaburagi (Karnataka) to enhance its flying hours and aircraft utilisation, which get severely affected during winter months due to low visbility. IGRUA has commenced operating on all weekends and holidays. It completed 19,019 flying hours during the year 2021 as compared to 15,137 hours in the pre-Covid year 2019, an increase of over 25%.

             At present, there are 34 Flying Training Organisations (FTOs) operating at 52 bases as approved by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). List of State Wise Flying training institutes is at Annexure.

Flying Training Institutes are established as per Civil Aviation requirements Section-7, Series-d, Part-I specified by Directorate General of Civil Aviation which are reviewed as per international practices from time to time.  

The number of CPLs issued during the last three years is as follows: Year CPLs issued 2019-  744;   2020- 578; 2021-862. 

In 2021, after a competitive bidding process, AAI awarded nine FTO slots at five airports at Belagavi (Karnataka), Jalgaon (Maharashtra), Kalaburagi (Karnataka), Khajuraho (Madhya Pradesh) and Lilabari (Assam). Under FTO bidding Round 2, Airports Authority of India (AAI) initiated open tender bidding for 15 FTO slots at 10 Airports viz. Bhavnagar, Cooch Behar, Deoghar, Huballi, Jharsuguda, Kishangarh, Kadappa, Meerut, Salem and Tezu. AAI received bids only for 8 FTOs at 7 Airports namely – Tezu, Kishangarh, Meerut, Kadappa, Hubballi, Bhavnagar, Salem. Deoghar, under Santhal Parganas Division of Jharkhand did not receive any bid. In June 2022, 6 FTO slots were awarded by AAI at five airports namely: 2 slots at Bhavnagar (Gujarat), and one each at Hubballi (Karnataka), Kadappa (Andhra Pradesh), Kishangarh (Rajasthan) and Salem (Tamil Nadu).  These FTOs are expected to be operational by December 2023. Currently, no such proposal has been received in the Ministry of Civil Aviation for setting up new flying training institutes in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, Mangaldoi in Assam and Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh.

Annexure

 STATE-WISE LIST OF FLYING TRAINING ORGANISATIONS (AS OF 30^TH NOVEMBER 2022)

Source:  Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)

This information was given by the Minister for Civil Aviation Sh. Jyotiraditya M. Scindia to a question in Lok Sabha today.

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YB