Airbus Commanders Complete Training At Ia Centre

A record 67 commanders for Airbus A 320 and Airbus A 300 have been trained by Indian Airlines at its Central Training Establishment (CTE) in Hyderabad under a crash course that started in April last year. Normally, the establishment can train 22 commanders a year.

Indian Airlines director (training) M V V Rao, who is the chief executive of CTE, said yesterday that the crash programme for commanders was taken up in the wake of the exodus of pilots to other airlines over the last 18 months.

As many as 200 pilots 140 of them commanders had left Indian Airlines for other carriers in the wake of the open-sky policy of the government.

Rao said the successful completion of the training programme had enabled Indian Airlines to announce a summer schedule offering 37,000 seats a day. At present, the airline is offering 26,000 seats a day. Earlier, the exodus of pilots had brought the figure down to 22,000 seats a day.

The director said another 14 Airbus A 300 commanders were undergoing training. They will join the fleet by October this year.

Rao said CTE was also trying to form a joint venture with one of the three manufacturers of simulators for Boeing 737 of the 300, 400 and 500 versions. The simulator will cost Rs 70 crore. Another Rs 30-40 crore will be required to set up the infrastructure.

CTE has offered to provide the infrastructure if a manufacturer agrees to set up the simulator at his cost on a profit sharing basis. The matter is under discussion.

Rao said the simulator would be utilised mostly by other airlines for training. If the manufacturer supplied the simulator, he would also be interested in ensuring that foreign airlines sent their pilots for training.

CTE now has four flight simulators two for Airbus A 320, and one each for Airbus A 300 and Boeing 737.

Rao disclosed that CTE had sought the status of a deemed university. It has a sprawling campus and the best training facilities available.

Foreign airlines such as British Airways, Alliance Air, Singapore-based Region Air, Taiwan-based Trans Asia and Air Lanka, besides domestic carriers like Sahara and East West are already utilising the training facilities at CTE.