‘Belora project to create over 3,000 aviation jobs’

Nagpur: Air India will set up a pilot training school at Amravati’s Belora airport. The operations are expected to start by April 2025 and aims to train 180 pilots annually.The project entails a 200 crore investment, MADC vice-chairperson and managing director Swati Pandey told TOI.MADC is developing infrastructure at Amravati airport which is expected to be operational by July-August this year. Covered under the central government’s UDAAN Regional Connectivity scheme, plans are afoot to start maiden flight to Mumbai once Amravati airport begins operations.The two companies also signed a lease deed that was registered in Amravati, giving the Air India-MADC deal a seal of confirmation. Air India has initiated the airport survey, Pandey told TOI. She claimed that the project will create more than 3,000 jobs in the aviation sector.“It will be an Air India-MADC joint venture. We will offer land and other aviation infrastructure at the airport to Air India. The airline, in turn, will deploy 34 training aircraft in tranches including three twin-seater planes. The flying is expected to be started by April 2025 and by next year Air India is expected to be ready with all its infrastructure like hostel buildings and other civil work required for running the pilot training school,” Pandey said.An MADC press release said the facility will also be the country’s first airline licensed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation to set up a flight training school. It would spur a major transformation in the pilot-starved aviation industry.The 180 pilots graduating out of the training school will be logging in more than 36,000 flying hours — once again the highest as compared to any other flying school in the country. Spread over 10 acre, it is proposed to have digitally-enabled classrooms, hostels, a digitized operations centre and an own maintenance facility.MADC will have a revenue sharing agreement with Air India. MADC’s contribution to the project will be in the form of a runway, other airport infrastructure and land. Pandey said MADC secured the deal after tough negotiations. Amravati emerged as an ideal site for setting up of the training school as Nagpur is already a very busy airport with about 32 landings. That was also the reason that a decision was taken to partially shift Nagpur Flying Club operations to Chandrapur.MADC is banking on Amravati owing to its better and clear airspace visibility for over 300 days a year. The runway would match world-class standards and the airport has instrument landing system and night landing facilities, said the press release.
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