UP gets airborne, comes up with three flying clubs

Last week, three flying clubs of the country — Chetak, Ambition and Pioneer — received the No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA) to set up their flight training academies on the airstrip in Aligarh.

The Chetak Flying Club is also setting up the Uttarakhand Academy of Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Institute along the airstrip.

Chairman of the club, B P S Yaduvanshi said: “We are the only flying club in the country to have a Cessna 172-R trainer aircraft and a twin engine eight-seater pressurised heavy aircraft Cessna 421-B.”

The institutes have initiated the admission process. Rajiv Khandari, the Chairman of Mumbai-based Ambition Flying Club, said: “We began the admission process from September 12 immediately after getting the approval from the DGCA. The training classes started from September 15.”

In July 2007, the Mayawati Government had decided to hand over all the 12 state-owned airstrips to private investors for setting up of flying training academies and aircraft maintenance engineering institutes on PPP model.

The airstrips — located in districts of Ambedkarnagar, Ghazipur, Sultanpur, Aligarh, Meerut, Farrukhabad, Faizabad, Kushinagar, Sonebhadra, Lakhimpur Kheri, Shrawasti and Etawah — used only for VVIP movements till now.

Due to the sporadic use, the infrastructure at most of these airstrips has deteriorated over the years, with an exception being the Saifai (Etawah) airstrip, which was upgraded by the Mulayam Singh Yadav government and was regularly used by him and his relatives. 

Under the present agreement, a private investor is required to pay Rs 3 lakh per year for initial five years to the government, after which the contract will be renewed with a 50 per cent hike in the charges. The state government is providing the airstrips, hangars and terminal buildings to the investors on a 30-year lease. The government has also allowed them to undertake further construction on the premises and add facilities required for setting up of institutes.

Besides the three companies that have started functioning in Aligarh, six proposals from India Pacific, Chawla, Flytech, Manpower Solutions Pvt Ltd, Sultan Education Society and Saraswati Educational Society are lying with the state government for other airstrips.

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