American School of Aviation opens recruitment centre in Hyderabad
16 Feb 2007
Hyderabad: The American School of Aviation (ASA), a US-based pilot training institute, opened a recruitment centre in Hyderabad on Tuesday, making it the eighth such centre for the ASA in the country.
"With the airline sector booming, career opportunities for aspiring pilots are better than ever before. We consider the recruitment potential in Hyderabad to be among the highest in the country, as people here have a high awareness of aviation, and hence the launch of a recruitment centre here," Arvinder Singh, director (operations), ASA India Private Limited, told media persons here on Tuesday.
According to ASA officials, the Indian aviation market is expected to cater to about 70 million air passengers by 2010. They said that Indian carriers are expected to buy over 280 new planes worth $15 billion by 2010 and that they would spend an equal amount in the following decade. "In the long run, India needs 1,100 new aircraft, of which 935 would be passenger planes. For this, we need about 5,000 pilots," Arvinder said.
In order to cater to such a demand, ASA was planning to open 20 more recruitment centres in the country by the end of the year. The institute, which is in the fifth year of its existence, is now planning to add 50 more aircraft to its current fleet of 31 by June this year.
ASA has two training programmes -- an eight-month Kingfisher Airlines Programme (KFA) and a special flying training programme with a 10-month duration period. Under the KFA programme, ASA India does the psychometric testing for aspiring pilots and sends them to Kingfisher Airlines for an interview. If selected, the candidate will get a substantial scholarship from KFA and also a provisional letter of appointment. The programme costs $46,138.
Under the special flying training programme, students who enroll in the course will be given pilot training at the ASA's school in Atwater, California, supplemented by ground training at the ASA India's Gurgaon facility. ASA will facilitate the entire process of becoming a commercial pilot from the time a student applies till he or she gets a job with an airline. This programme costs $37,998.
ASA currently trains 125 students.
