Air Hostess Academy (AHA), a manpower training institute for the services industry, plans to take the number of its institutes to around 22 from the existing 14 by the end of 2005. | |
| As part of its countrywide expansion, AHA opened its first institute in south India at Chennai on Thursday. AHA currently has branches in Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh and Dehra Dun, among other cities. The other locations that it has set its sights on are Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Coimbatore and Thiruvananthapuram. |
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| About Rs 1 crore is the average investment required for these training institutes, which includes advertising and marketing related expenses. Chennai is the second franchisee that the company operates other than Kolkata. Of the 21-22 institutes to be opened, 8 to 9 of them will be via franchisee route. |
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| The expansion is in the wake of what AHA's founder and chief consultant Sapna Gupta describes as a boom in the airlines and the hospitality industry, "There is a lot of demand in south India for jobs in tourism, hotels, MNCs and BPOs. There is a demand from both students and companies for training and talent." |
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| The institute will offer two diploma courses for class twelve pass students "� a one-year course in aviation and hospitality management and a two-year course in global aviation and hospitality management. |
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| The one-year course will cost Rs 84,500 while the cost for the two-year programme is Rs 1,49,500. The fees include uniforms and courseware. The job-oriented course includes placement assistance. AHA claims that about 95 per cent of the 2,000 students who have passed out since 1997 have been placed. |
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| The curriculum includes training in hotels, in-flight and airport training (through a Jet Airways tie-up), personality enhancement, swimming and the teaching of a foreign language. The average salary to be expected at the entry level in hotels, airlines and BPOs is anywhere between Rs 7,000 and Rs 20,000, according to AHA. |
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| The estimated requirement in the airline industry for cabin crew is about 21,000 in the next three years. This includes recruitments expected from both domestic and foreign airlines. |
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| AHA has already received 2,000 applications for the 250 seats available in Chennai. The candidates will be put through a written test and a personal interview before they are selected. The 2005-06 batch will start in a week's time. |
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