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Flying schools woo hobbyists in slump
As airports turned less busy this year, flight instructors found themselves building alternative avenues.
As airports turned less busy this year, flight instructors found themselves building alternative avenues.
After the economic the slowdown hurt job prospects in mainstream airlines, various pilot training institutes in the country
have rolled out new-dedicated short-term courses tailored for flying enthusiasts.
Recreational flying is not a new concept but it saw a dip in the past few years. Yash Air Limited, a private flying academy, recently introduced short-term programmes for the flying enthusiasts.
Capt. Yashraj Tongia, its founder, said, “Today there are just a few private pilot licence (PPL) holders compared to the earlier times. The trend is once again on the rise. Seeing this we have introduced a few flying programmes ranging from one hour courses to those that lead a private plane licence. The target group is certainly high networth individuals and we have seen enquiries from people in the 30-42 age group.”
These short-term courses are held over the weekends. Yash Air recently enrolled new students like Vikas Kasliwal of S. Kumars, Amit Rathi of Anand Rathi Financial Services and actor Sohail Khan. The academy offers various packages starting from Rs 15,000 and goes up to Rs 6 lakh.
Punj Lloyd promoted Chimes Aviation Academy too introduced a fast-track flying programme catering to the elite class.
Cruiser, an exclusive
‘by invitation’ flying programme is designed for busy executives, who can fly and learn as per their schedule.
The programme also enables candidates to qualify for a PPL. Naresh Sharma, manager, Cruiser Relationship, said,
“We started this programme meant for hobby fliers 10 months ago. So far we have trained at least five candidates, including actor Kunal Kapoor,” he said.
The entire programme is delivered over nine weekends at the Chimes academy based in Dhana Air Strip, Madhya Pradesh. The Cruiser program is priced at Rs 11 lakh.
At present India has close to 50 flight-training academies and at least 100 training aircraft. Most flying clubs now plan to fly this route even after the downturn.
