Bird Academy, the education vertical of Bird Group recently took a step further in strengthening its position as a regional aviation-learning hub by collaborating with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in becoming their ‘Regional Training Partner’ in India. The partnership was made official during a signing ceremony between Radha Bhatia, chairperson, Bird Group and Alexandre de Juniac, IATA’s director general and CEO. Conrad Clifford, IATA’s regional vice president – Asia Pacific, was also present on the occasion.
Speaking on the partnership, Bhatia said, “We are delighted to collaborate with IATA as Regional Training Partner. India is among the fastest-growing aviation markets globally and expected to become the third largest aviation market by 2025. We believe that the most important building block to any industry’s success is its people and this joint initiative will help build a talent pool of trained professionals across all facets who will lead the industry’s growth.”
“Today aviation supports 7.5 million jobs in India. With the number of people travelling to, from or within India expected to treble to 520 million by 2037, the demand for trained aviation professionals will continue to grow. Appointing Bird Academy as an IATA Regional Training Partner means that we are able to better support India’s talent needs by offering IATA courses that were previously unavailable. We look forward to a successful partnership with the Bird Academy to fulfil India’s training requirements,” said Clifford.
The partnership will allow Bird Academy to host training by IATA that cover the full spectrum of the industry. Some of the key IATA trainings initially offered in New Delhi will include passenger assessment and travel document checks, document control systems, safety management systems (SMS) for airlines, and passenger fares and ticketing.
Regarded as a benchmark in the aviation industry, these trainings are internationally recognized and have a strong demand world-over. The recent partnership adds India’s capital – New Delhi as one of world’s strategic aviation training hubs.
Earlier in 2018, Bird Academy opened its first ‘Aviation Multi Skill Development Centre’ in Chandigarh under the PM’s ‘Skill India’ programme in collaboration with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC).