AHA eyes global footprint

In order to cater to the booming hospitality and aviation industries, Delhi-based Air Hostess Academy (AHA) is planning to increase its presence by opening 100 learning centres in the next five years.

It is also planning to spread overseas by opening centres in London, Dubai, Sydney, and cities in Sri Lanka.

Currently, it has 35 centres in the country.

Speaking to Business Standard, AHA Founder Director Sapna Gupta said: "It is expected that around 250,000 jobs will be created in the hospitality and aviation sectors by 2010. Also, as India will host the 2010 Commonwealth Games, there will be tremendous job opportunities for the youth. So, in order to meet the demand, we are planning to increase our presence by 100 centres in the next five years. We will be opening offices in Goa, Cochin, Coimbatore, Trivandrum, Lucknow, Patna, Jamshedpur, Patiala and Jalandhar soon."

Commenting on the overseas operations, he said, "By 2009, we will have two overseas centres as joint ventures and by 2010, we will have three more centres. We are planning to open offices in London, Dubai, Sydney, and Sri Lanka too."

At present the AHA trains about 8,000 students in its 35 centres in the country. She also added that the company had plans to enter the capital market in 2009.

Also, at present it is working with the governments of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Chhattisgarh to train backward sections of society in airlines and hotels.

"We are also in talks with the Punjab government in addition to other state governments for similar programmes," she added.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Finance Pawan Kumar Bansal released the AHA's "Winning Strategies: Service with Smile," a handbook on building careers in aviation and hospitality, written by Gupta.