More than 400 pilots would be licensed annually through these new schools. The total output would grow to over 600 pilots with the Multi Pilot Licence (MPL) stream of licensing.

"The selection of CAE by the government of India for these schools is a significant milestone for flight training in India," said Jeff Roberts, CAEs Group President, Innovation and Civil Training & Services. "Given our extensive experience in building world-class flight-training organizations, we intend to provide India with the expertise and support they need to develop a solid infrastructure and implement the most modern standards in flight training. With these new schools, which would complement our upcoming training centre in Bangalore, we will be able to address the need for pilots in India."

"Creating these world-class institutions in-country with CAE as our partner is a major government initiative targeted at tackling both the acute shortage of Indian pilots while improving the overall quality of the cadet supply within India," said The Honourable Praful Patel, Indias Minister of Civil Aviation. "Today there are approximately 2,500 active pilots in India and we estimate that we will need up to an additional 5,000 pilots over the next 5 years to meet the needs of the industry. These initiatives will go a long way to help remedy our pilot shortage."

Over the next decade, the rapid growth in air travel will generate an enormous demand for pilots, cabin crew, maintenance staff and infrastructure to support this growth. The Air Passengers Association of India estimates that the annual air traffic growth rate in the country has been around 26% over the past two years, causing the Indian airline industry to order approximately 400 new aircraft, to be delivered by 2010.

Once final agreements are signed, CAE will offer these schools the possibility of becoming members of the CAE Global Academy. The CAE Global Academy is a worldwide network of flight training organizations that offers pilot candidates an optimized program with standard operating procedures. CAE currently has six member schools in its Global Academy and can license annually 1,000 pilots. Once they have graduated from the Academy, the new first officers are able to proceed for type-rating in one of CAEs training centres, including CAEs upcoming training centre in Bangalore. CAE has contracts with several airlines to supply them with pilots. CAE has recruited, trained and supplied more than 800 pilots for commercial airlines over the last year.

For more information, please send your e-mails to swm@infothe.com.

ⓒ2007 www.SecurityWorldMag.com. All rights reserved.