Misra at the inauguration of the institute. Picture by Diptendu Dutta

Siliguri, April 30: At a time when new airlines have started to occupy Indian (and foreign) airspace almost every month, the need for trained personnel to man the aircraft, be it pilots or cabin crew, is growing day by day.

In a commercial bid to reduce the demand and supply gap, a new institute opened its branch here today.

Griffin Aviation, a two-year-old institution with headquarters in Saibabad near Delhi, first started basic ground training for pilots and cabin crew at Durgapur, then spreading to Guwahati, Panchkhola (near Chandigarh), Dehra Dun, Ahmedabad, Bareilly, and now in Siliguri.

?We also plan to open training branches in Bangalore, Varanasi and Visakhapatnam,? said Asish Misra, Griffin?s chief consultant who was here for the inauguration. ?We have selected these places after local interactive sessions.?

The institute offers pilot training courses after an aptitude test. ?An applicant should have 50 per cent in the Plus Two exams with physics and maths. He should be 5 ft 6 inches and have six-by-six (normal) eyesight,? Misra said.

The fees for the one-year course is Rs 15 lakh, which includes six months of training at Saibabad and a further six months in aviation institutes in the Philippines or Serbia. ?We have a tie-up with Aeroflight in the Philippines and the fees are for a package including visa, travel, accommodation and, of course, the training,? he added.

But why Serbia and the Philippines? ?If one wants to be trained as a pilot in India, he would have to wait for up to two years as there is a shortage of instructors here,? the consultant said. ?One can be eligible for a commercial pilot?s licence from the directorate general of civil aviation only after completing 180 hours of flying on a single-engine aircraft and 25 hours on a multi-engine aircraft.?