Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia Inaugurates First FTO for North Eastern Region
GG News Bureau
Lilabari, 13th April. The Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya M. Scindia and the Chief Minister of Assam Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday inaugurated the first Flying Training Organization (FTO) for the North Eastern Region in Lilabari, Assam.
Speaking on the occasion, Jyotiraditya M. Scindia said, “I consider myself blessed to be in Assam which is renowned internationally for its history and culture. Assam is becoming the growth engine of Northeast.”
He said, “Lilabari Airport was inaugurated by Former Prime Minister Late Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the year 2003-2004, and today it is being given due importance by opening of the first FTO in Northeast. With the opening of this FTO, the youth of North East will get the opportunity to attain Vidya (Knowledge) and Gati (Speed).”
He added, “40 % of our pilots get trained aboard which results in the loss of Rs 500 crore of foreign exchange. To reduce this, we have decided to open up 9 new FTO by this year and in the next stage, 15 new FTOs will be established, taking the current number of FTOs in India from 34 to 58.”
The event was graced by Kiran Rijiju, Minister of Law & Justice; Dr. Ranoj Pegu, Education Minister Of Assam; Jishnu Barua Chief Secretary of Assam; Pradan Baruah, Member of Parliament, Lakhimpur; Sanjeev Kumar, Chairman, Airport Authority of India; Rajiv Bansal, Secretary, MOCA; Usha Padhee, Joint Secretary and Amber Dubey, Joint Secretary from Ministry of Civil Aviation; Karan Mann, CEO, Redbird Flying Training Academy and other dignitaries from Government of Assam, Ministry of Civil Aviation and Airport Authority of India.
Lilabari is amongst nine FTOs to be established in five airports in India by June 2022 includes Belagavi and Kalaburagi in Karnataka, Jalgaon in Maharashtra and Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh. M/s Redbird Aviation has won the right to establish the FTO at Lilabari.
Airports Authority of India has leased land for the FTO and facilitated statutory approvals from DGCA and BCAS.
With the establishment of these FTOs, India will aim to become a global hub for pilot training.
Currently, at Lilabari, Redbird Aviation has stationed 2 aircraft for flying training – Tecnam P2008JC Single Engine and Tecnam P2006T Multi-engine which would eventually be increased to 5 by year end.
In Lilabari FTO, Ground Classes (Online + Offline), Practical flying training, Drone flying training and Simulator training on Alsim Level-5 Simulator and A320 Fixed Base Simulator will take place for Single Batch of 10 students which will be increased to 20.
The process for enrolment in the FTO will take place with an online entrance exam which is conducted every few months. Applicants need to be above 18 years of age and should have completed their 12th board exams with English, Physics and Maths.
After completing their training, students can be employed in Airlines, Private charter services, Air ambulances, Government pilot jobs, Cargo/freighter services.
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