Assam: Commercial Pilot Training Academy To Kick-start In Mid-April At Lilabari

Guwahati: The aviation pilot training academy in the Northeast which will offer Commercial Pilot License (CPL) is all set to start from mid-April this year at Lilabari airport.

According to a report by TOI, two aircraft have already arrived at Lilabari in upper Assam's Lakhimpur district on Tuesday.

The report said that the Red Bird Flight Training Academy won the bid to start and operate three flying training organizations (FTOs) in the country and one is in Lilabari.

The academy will produce pilots for commercial aircraft and it will operate under the ministry of civil aviation.

''Pilots will be trained in India. Cash flow to foreign training schools will reduce. Also, the target to boost the aviation industry needs pilots,'' an official of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) was quoted as saying by TOI.

The aircraft named Technam P2008JC single-engine and Technam P2006T multi-engine trainee aircraft arrived at Lilabari from Baramati in Maharashtra.

Taking to micro-blogging site Twitter, Lilabari Airpot Tweeted, ''Most awaited day of #Lilabari and NER, finally two flying machines have arrived today at Lilabari Airport for Redbird Flying Training Academy to empower the youth for brighter future with wings. Both aircraft were greeted with the traditional water cannon salute''.

Notably, on Thursday, Minister of State for Civil Aviation VK Singh had informed Lok Sabha that India might require 1,000 commercial pilots per year over the next 5-6 years.

He further informed that the Airport Authority of India (AII) had received bids for Nine Flying Training Organizations (FTO) in March last year.

''AII had issued award letters for all the nine FTOs on May 31, 2021, and October 29, 2021. The five airports alloted were Belagavi (Karnataka), Jalgaon (Maharashtra), Kalaburagi (Karnataka), Khajuraho (Madhya Pradesh), and Lilabari (Assam).

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