Addressing IACC’s 4^th Indo-US Economic Summit today in New Delhi, Ms Kathryn Taylor, Mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma, US said that the US and India can have strong partnership in the field of aerospace, aviation training and maintenance.

The Mayor said that the City of Tulsa is a major hub for aerospace in the US and over 300 aerospace firms are functioning in the city. The Indian aerospace industry would grow exponentially in the coming years in view of the increasing passenger and cargo traffic. The passenger traffic is increasing by 25 per cent every year. Cargo traffic growth is not far behind. India needs help in terms of resources and expertise for consolidating this growth, particularly for acquiring more aircrafts and maintaining them.

Significantly, Mayor is leading a delegation of businessmen from Tulsa, who are actively taking part in the deliberations of the Indo-US Economic Summit.

Referring to the training needs of the aerospace industry, Ms Taylor said that India needs 4000 pilots in the next few years to man the aircrafts that she is going to acquire in the next few years. By 2020, India might need more than 20,000 pilots. Specialized institutions based in the US for training pilots can meet these huge manpower requirements, she added.  

Underscoring the need for strong partnership between India and the US, particularly with City of Tulsa, Mayor observed that expertise and capabilities of Tulsa is well recognized as an engineering hub as well. There could be meaningful partnerships between Indian and the firms situated in Tulsa.  There are 500 companies employing over 150,000 direct and indirect employees.

City of Tulsa, the Mayor said, has hosted a large number of prestigious Golf tournaments, which attracted participation from major players like Tiger Wood. The educational institutions, spread across the city cater to a wide range of disciplines.

Sourced From: Perfect Relations Limited