Pilot training programme at Bajpe airport from Sunday

04 January 2007

A private airline operator will utilise Bajpe airport of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for its pilot training activity from January 7.
Another private company has planned to utilise the airport here as the base to operate its helicopter for a study to find out oil reserves in the Arabian Sea, according to sources. The sources told The Hindu that the company would take up the study (oil rig operations) under the new exploration licensing policy of the Union Government.
Kingfisher Airlines will start day and night training programme for its pilots at the airport. Initially, it will press into service an ATR aircraft and later an Airbus 320 for the training.
The training will fetch revenue to the AAI as for every landing and take off the airline has to pay a fee to the authority, the sources said.
The airline will complete one year of its operation at the airport on January 20. It was the first airline to operate Airbus 319 and Airbus 320 from the airport.
It will also become the first airline to start pilot training activity here.
Two runways at the airport have come in handy for taking up pilot training activities, the sources said.
They said that it was the only airport in the State to have a complete concrete runway. The runway was commissioned last year.
Other major airports in the country were congested as the number of flights had gone up.
It was difficult to use them to train pilots, they said.

Helicopter operation

The sources said that a private company, which has its subsidiary in the petroleum sector, would operate its helicopter from the airport for a study to find oil reserves in the Arabian Sea.
The helicopter would transport its engineers and workers to identified sites in the sea from the airport and back, they said.
The company will also have a unit at the airport.
The helicopter is likely to arrive by January 8. The study is likely to go on for a year.

(courtesy thehindu.com)