Kirti Gupta and Debasish Mazumdar at the flying institute. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, Dec. 2: Hoping to capitalise on the aviation boom, employed youngsters are going back to school to learn to fly.

Such is the attraction to be a pilot that even airhostesses, who are paid well, are not giving a second thought to quitting their glamorous jobs to get trained as pilots.

One such trainee at Alchemist Aviation Private Limited, the flying school here, is Kirti Gupta, who was an airhostess with Air Sahara for a year and half before deciding to give it up to be a pilot.

“There is a huge dearth of trained commercial pilots in India and I did not have to think too much to make the career switch,” said Kirti.

The factors attracting such people to a pilot’s course are perhaps the hierarchical leap and the glamour quotient attached. People from diverse fields are become trainees at the flying school. “Being a pilot brings with it some obvious perks of checking out the latest places and being treated to some royalty, alongside the prestige value that automatically comes with it,” said Kirti.

Debasish Mazumdar is another person who left his job as a cabin crew at Air Sahara to get enrolled at the flying school. He also has worked as airport ground staff.

“Once I finish my training, there are plans to go abroad for an advanced course. I am sure that would land me good offers,” said the confident youngster who hopes to cash in on the aviation boom.

“Such switchovers are gradually becoming a trend,” said Deepak Jha, the assistant vice-president of Alchemist Aviation Private Limited.

Also learning the tricks of the trade at the flying school is a person who has some experience of working at the Air Traffic Control (ATC).