New Delhi : The Ministry of Civil Aviation has invested capital in modernizing and augmenting the ageing fleet and infrastructure of Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Academy (IGRUA) and has formalized a management contract with the global aviation giant CAE to bring international standardized modern methodology of aviation training, thereby upgrading the quality of training imparted to pilots and making it an integral part of CAE Global Academy.

IGRUA has now increased its yearly intake from 45 to 100 students within a period of 2 years and has reduced its training period from more than 24 months to 18 months with an aim to further reduce it to 15 months without compromising its quality and standards. With effect from January 5, 2010, the Ground Training Department of IGRUA has also become the first Ground Training School in India to be ISO 9001: 2008 certified.

IGRUA is in the process of having its excellence in imparting flying training certified by the International Standards Organization and this is the first step in that direction. Set up in 1985 as an autonomous body under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, IGRUA commenced operations in 1986 with the primary objective to meticulously train pilots for entry into the airlines. The institute carries out Line Oriented Flying Training (LOFT) to contemporary international standards, mainly conducting courses for ab-initio undergraduate candidates to Commercial Pilot License (CPL) standards with Instrument Rating (IR) and Multi-engine Endorsement.

Today IGRUA is an accepted centre of excellence and is India's largest fully integrated aviation training academy with:

1. Largest training fleet in India comprising 27 aircrafts. Of these, 11 are high performance modern avionics equipped single engine aircraft and 2 are turboprop C 90-A King Air aircraft. 14 DA - 40 aircraft with the state of the art Garmin 1000 Glass cockpits have also been operationalised in December 09. Two Diamond DA - 42 aircraft are in the pipeline further augmenting the multiengine fleet.

2. An IGRUA owned airfield with modern navigational aids, three hangars, fully equipped engineering section, well equipped fire fighting section and dedicated refuelling section.

3. Four cockpit procedure trainers, two having Garmin 1000 Glass cockpit with a panoramic 180 degree projection. One Hawker Sydney Glass cockpit generic trainer modelled for seven different types of aircraft from single engine to advance jet airliners.

4. A mix of highly experienced flying and ground instructors, with years of instructional experience.

5. An optimum student /instructor/aircraft ratio, maintained with the strictest adherence to safety on ground and in the air.

6. A well equipped modern gym and area for outdoor games.

7. New hostel commissioned in 2009 increasing the capacity to accommodate 248 boys and 40 girls.