Bhanu Choudhrie is an entrepreneur who lives and works in London, England. He was born in Delhi, India, and earned his college education in the United States. He moved to London after completing his formal education and founded C&C Alpha Group. His company is a private equity firm that has started businesses in multiple industries such as agriculture, retail development, hospitality, and healthcare.
He’s had companies in the aviation industry since 2003. He invested in Air Deccan, which grew from a one-plane operation to one that has hundreds of daily flights. While helping develop this company, Bhanu Choudhrie learned it’s hard to find pilots. After selling his interest in Air Deccan in 2007, he decided to build a pilot training school. Read more on Bhanu Choudhrie at medium.com
There is a growing shortage of pilots around the world. There is growing demand for pilots while many younger people lack interest in this occupation. Additionally, older pilots are increasingly hitting retirement age. The parts of the world that face the biggest shortages for this occupation are the Middle East, South Asia, and East Asia. These regions have growing economies with more people wanting to fly than ever before.
Bhanu Choudhrie shared in an interview that it’s expensive to train a pilot. Training also takes nearly two years. Additionally, new pilots need to spend a certain number of hours flying small- and medium-sized airplanes before they are eligible to serve on large commercial airplanes. Young people don’t want to start out flying smaller planes because the salary is only $20,000 per year.
It costs about $150,000 to learn to be a pilot. Some young people think about becoming a pilot by serving in the Air Force or Navy. However, to become an officer in the military usually requires a person to have a college degree. All this adds up to it being too expensive for most young people to join this profession.
Bhanu Choudhrie has offered solutions to make it less expensive and take less time to become a pilot. The proposals have been presented to the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Congress. He is hoping his proposals will encourage young people to become pilots while keeping safety the highest priority. Read: https://www.bmmagazine.co.uk/business/bhanu-choudhrie-developing-a-vital-aviation-niche/
