With a growth rate of 18% per annum, sunny skies lie ahead for aviation industry. The industry has witnessed expansion both in terms of players and number of aircrafts. With this the strength of the Indian fleet is expected to be 500-550 by 2010. Even the open sky policy of the government has reaped huge dividends with many foreign players entering the market. To meet the talent crunch which is the main problem of any sunrise sector, lots of training institutes have come up in the city.
Talking to FE, Kamal Saini, centre head Frankfinn said, “Earlier people were reluctant to join the aviation sector but now trend has changed. People are more aware of the opportunities in the aviation sector and want to be a part of it.” She added, “Students come from Punjab, Chandigarh and Haryana. The age group is 18 and above.”
Apart from the shortage of the cabin crew, there is also a deficiency in the number of commercial pilots in the country. Commenting on this, Captain SP Singh, Director, Sky Wings Aviation said, “There is shortage of training institutes for pilots in India. To circumvent the problem, we have tied up with foreign institutes. Large numbers of students are now opting to do their flying courses abroad.” He further added, “Soon the government is coming up with the policy according to which there will be an airport at every 50km. So the need of the hour is to build the infrastructure required for it.”
Talking about the future prospects Sapna Gupta, Director, Air Hostess Academy said ” Since common wealth games are scheduled for 2010, we are expecting 2.5 lakh jobs will be created in this industry. On being asked about the expansion plans she said, “We are planning to open 100-150 centers by next five years. Also centers in the countries like London, Dubai, SriLanka is also in the offing.”