Aviation

IndiGo ties up with Skyborne for pilot training

Updated : January 29, 2019 06:51 PM IST

The airline was conducting the pilot training programme at CAE Gondia in Maharashtra earlier.

A pilot with an "A320 Type Rating" is permitted to fly the A318, A319, A320, A321 and the latest A320neo aircraft with no further training.

IndiGo ties up with Skyborne for pilot training

IndiGo said on Tuesday it has selected Skyborne Airline Academy to train up to 100 pilots annually over the next five years under its cadet pilot programme.

The airline was conducting the pilot training programme at CAE Gondia in Maharashtra earlier.

In a statement, IndiGo said that the "18-month programme will enable selected cadets to train for a US FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and Indian DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) Commercial Pilots Licence and Airbus A320 Type Rating", before advancing into employment and flying the line as a First Officer with IndiGo.

A pilot with an "A320 Type Rating" is permitted to fly the A318, A319, A320, A321 and the latest A320neo aircraft with no further training.

Skyborne cadets will undergo 13 months of "US FAA 141" commercial pilot training in Arizona, US, before returning to India to convert their US FAA licence to an Indian DGCA licence.

Captain Ashim Mittra, Senior Vice President, Flight Operations, IndiGo said, "Our partnership with Skyborne will provide us with a steady flow of highly-skilled, internationally trained airline pilots over the next five years."

"It is expected that airlines in India will require up to 10,000 new pilots by 2030 to meet demand, so we are delighted to have signed this agreement with Skyborne," he added.

The first batch of selected cadets would start training at the UK-based airline academy Skyborne in April 2019, IndiGo said.

In 2011, IndiGo joined hands with CAE to provide training to "ab initio" pilot cadets at the CAE Global Academy Gondia, India and CAE type-rating training centres.

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