AI mulls foreign tie-up for pilot training facility

Mumbai: Air India is scouting for foreign partners to set up pilot training facilities in India, as part of its plans to tide over the pilot shortages that the country's national carrier is likely to face in the future.
"One of the options we are considering is to tie-up with a partner like Boeing to set up training facilities in the country. Another proposal is to recruit youngsters and send them abroad for training, before appointing them to operate our flights," V. Thulasidas, Air India's Chairman and Managing Director told press persons here on Monday.
He said the shortage of pilots was likely to increase after the company starts taking delivery of the 68 aircraft that it had ordered.
The first these new aircraft would join the fleet by November, while the first of the new 777 long-range aircraft would follow in February 2007. He also admitted that the company would be facing capacity constraints till the mid-2007.
18/04/06 Sify

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