Punjab to set up five aviation training institutes
10 May 2007
According to an official spokesperson, chief minister Prakash Singh Badal has also directed the State chief secretary to approach the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Airport Authority of India (AAI) for early clearance of the proposal to upgrade the facilities at Ludhiana and Patiala airports.
The spokesperson said that the chief minister was keen that the State must not miss the aviation boom the way it had missed the IT and BT booms. State government officials would now invite leading flying schools in the world to set up their centres in the state.
The Government statement came after a meeting between the chief minister and representatives of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT). The meeting centered round discussions on expanding the facility to impart training to Punjabi youth so that they could take up commercial flying as their profession.
It is expected that the State government would come out with a tender within a month inviting flying academies/ institutes of repute to run the existing flying clubs at Patiala and Ludhiana in the first phase, and Amritsar in the second phase. The ventures would be run in the private public partnership mode.
