Learn to cope with airport snarls
Ten years ago I wrote a book titled “The End of Airports” about how digital technologies and commercial air travel were on a collision course.
The Government is taking several steps to meet the demand of pilots in the country. To achieve this Airports Authority of India (AAI) has brought out a liberalised Flying Training Organisation (FTO) policy wherein the concept of airport royalty (revenue share payment by FTOs to AAI) has been abolished and land rentals have been significantly rationalized. The Minister of State for Civil Aviation Gen. (Dr) V. K Singh (Retd) told Lok Sabha today.
“AAI issued award letters on 31 May 2021 and 29 October 2021 for nine FTOs to be established at five airports – two at Belagavi (Karnataka), two at Jalgaon (Maharashtra), two at Kalaburagi (Karnataka), two at Khajuraho (Madhya Pradesh) and one at Lilabari (Assam),” the minister told the lower house in a written reply.
Earlier DGCA had 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.
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To facilitate the process of commercial licencing, DGCA has modified its regulations to empower Flying Instructors with the right to authorize flight operations at FTOs. This was hitherto restricted to the Chief Flying Instructor (CFI) or Deputy CFIs only.
Moreover, 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 visibility. 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%”, the minister told the house.
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