Excellence Aviation Academy chairman Parvez Damania and actress Rituparna Sengupta at the academy launch on Wednesday. Picture by Bishwarup Dutta

To cash in on the recent boom in the aviation industry, Excellence Aviation Academy launched a centre in the city on Wednesday. The academy is the brainchild of Parvez Damania, erstwhile director of Sahara airline and executive director of Kingfisher airline. The centre, in Salt Lake, is the first of its kind in eastern India.

“With more than 400 new aircraft being booked and with 82 small airports being modernised to handle the extra traffic, there is a rising demand for trained personnel,” said Damania, chairman, Excellence Aviation Academy.

“The industry will require around 100,000 personnel in the next three years,” he added.

Responding to the growing demand of the aviation industry, a number of institutes like Pailan Aviation Institute, Frankfinn Institute of Airhostess Training, Air Hostess Academy, have come up in the past few years which provide training on various aspects of the aviation industry.

“Of the 150 aviation professionals necessary for each aircraft, there are 30 air hostesses. We will be also training the rest, who comprise technical and non-technical staff,” said Damania.

The institute will provide air hostess and flight purser training, airline ground staff courses, aviation security and aviation cargo training and flight dispatcher modules. The pilot training courses are expected to commence by January 2008.

The duration of the courses range from two months to a year. The diploma course will cost Rs 25,000 to Rs 1 lakh. The pilot training course fee will be between Rs 14 and Rs 16 lakh. Each batch will consist of 75 students who will use 10 Cessna 172 R aircraft for training.

Except for the ground staff training, which requires a graduation degree, 10+2 pass is the eligibility criteria for the other courses.