Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The government will stop supporting commercial pilot training programs with State Budget funds starting in 2008 and further leave the burden to airline companies to bear, a spokesman said.
"Starting in 2008, the cost of pilot training will be the responsibility of the airlines. The cost of training one pilot until he obtains a Commercial Pilot License with Instrument Rating (CPL-IR) is US$35,000 to US$40,000," Transportation Minister Jusman Syafii Djamal told the press after installing 25 pilots who graduated from state pilot school STPI Curug here on Thursday.
Jusman said the State Budget funds so far spent on supporting commercial pilot training would be used to train 20 to 30 pilots for the Directorate for Air Transportation and STPI Curug.
He said the government had decided the stoppage as in the long term the STPI would be developed to become a center for international pilot and flight training and education, the biggest of its kind in ASEAN and even the Asian region.
Therefore, he added, STPI would be equipped with simulator aircraft and a technology-based laboratory and other supporting facilities.
According to STPI data, the academy had produced more than 1,967 pilots since its opening in 1952 but the total number of graduates from its different departments was 13,835.
STPI Director Wisnu Daryono, meanwhile, said the academy would increase its capacity to educate some 200 to 400 pilots per year starting from this year.
The effort would be carried out through the Multi Crew Pilot License (MPL) program in the middle of this year, he added.
STPI has 38 aircraft, including 17 units of Socata TB-10 (seven of them still air-worthy), 11 units of Sundowner C-23 (seven of them still air-worthy), seven units of Dakota PA-28-236 (two of still air-worthy), three units of Baron B-58 (two of them still air-worthy).
He added the number of the academy`s single-engine aircraft would also be increased to 18 units.
STPI would also educate 20 helicopter pilots, he said, adding that it would buy two more Bell-206 training helicopters, including six units of link simulator for fixed-wing and helicopter.
STPI had established cooperation with foreign flight training centers, including Flight Safety International (FSI), International Airline Training Academy (IATA, Inc) and several suppliers of training center facilities.
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