India has emerged as a major player in the civil aviation industry in the world. With an increasing in-house demand that has made it the third largest domestic aviation market in the world with nearly 118 MN passengers in 2017, just behind the USA and Japan, the country is inching towards being the third largest aviation market (domestic and international) in the world. The overall positive outlook of the economy and the burgeoning middle class with higher disposable incomes is what has led to the continuous double-digit growth that the industry is witnessing at the moment.

While many are delighted by the rapid growth in air traffic demand, and with more than 600 aircraft in the industry and about twice on order, there’s an imminent need to develop talent and manpower to cater to the industry in the best possible manner.
InterGlobe is committed to play a vital role in India’s growth story and the way we have already changed the face of the aviation industry in the country, we are preparing for the future at the same time.

Keeping this in mind, we established CSTPL - a joint venture with CAE of Canada, for simulator-based training of A320 pilots using the most modern technologically advanced full-flight simulators. Following on this initiative, InterGlobe has now extended its presence in aviation technical-training and education to include training of aircraft maintenance engineers in by setting up the School for Aircraft Maintenance Engineering (SAME). SAME is an ab-initio Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Training School that inducts students straight after completion of 10+2 and prepares them for examinations conducted by the DGCA, a necessary prerequisite to obtaining a DGCA approved AME license and is aimed at meeting the requirements of high quality aircraft maintenance engineers by airlines and MROs in India including its own group company, IndiGo.

With its state of the art physical infrastructure, SAME’s 25,000 sq. ft. campus is home to twelve well-equipped and spacious workshops, and an HS-125 aircraft to impart hands-on experience, SAME is bringing the culture of excellence that defines the group to AME education in training. In fact, SAME’s commitment to offer quality education in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering is recognised by the DGCA as well, and we are thus far the only school that has been approved for two batches in each of the two streams viz. Mechanical and Avionics.

In its first year in 2017, SAME inducted a batch of 64 students for a three-year course under the old DGCA Regulations, which has since been replaced by CAR-147 (Basic). In 2018, SAME inducted its second batch consisting of over 100 students for a two-year course, both for Category B1.1 (Aeroplane Turbine) and Category B2 (Avionics) training.

Being the largest organisation in the Indian aviation sector, InterGlobe is constantly looking into newer, unexplored fields for educating the youth of the country, preparing them for opportunities that might come their way as India develops into a global superpower. While the CAR 147 Basic course will be the core programme to be offered at SAME we are looking at the possibilities of expanding its course offerings to include other ACME training programmes approved by DGCA and EASA as well, in times to come. SAME aspires to cater to the needs of the industry while equipping the younger generations of India with a skillset that would be highly in-demand for years to come, at the same time offering high-school students with more quality options for their higher education.