Institute for Excellence in Services and Planning:

By Gurpreet Khanna, Director and CEO
Gurpreet Khanna,Director and CEO

Gurpreet Khanna

Director and CEO

Indian skies are going to be one of the busiest in the near future, as the country aims to become the third-largest aviation market by 2020 and the largest by 2030. In May 2016, domestic air passenger traffic rose 21.63 percent to 8.67 million from 7.13 million during the same month of last year. Passenger traffic during FY 2015-16 increased at a rate of 21.3 percent to 85.57 million from 70.54 million in the FY 2014-15. If Indian civil aviation industry continues to be on this high-growth trajectory, by 2035, the Indian Civil Aviation sector will employ 0.8 to 1 million personnel directly and another three million indirectly. To facilitate creation of higher order skills in the Civil Aviation sector and to build a sustainable competitive edge, the country needs educational institutions that can address the latent need for enhancing the quality of training in the Civil Aviation sector. One such establishment was Airawat Aviation Academy, which was formed by Airawat Group in 2007.

However, the growing demand for customer satisfaction in areas of service, excellence and planning led to the institutionalization of Airawat Aviation Academy’s training to the next level, which led to the creation of ‘Institute for Excellence in Services & Planning (IESP)’ in 2011. Today, with excellence being the core of competition, IESP’s ‘Learning & Development’ wing focuses entirely on developing customized training solutions in the services and planning sectors through its two unique Training formats: Business to Business Training (B2B) and Business to Customer Training (B2C).
From the day of establishment, the institute has been giving the first and foremost value for the quality of training, which completely depends on the trainers. While most of the training institutes work with part time trainers in this sector, IESP has employed senior claims Gurpreet Khanna, Director & CEO, Airawat Group. For students who want to make an excellent career in aviation, the institute offers Airport Handling Management focusing on the development of skills required for key areas in Ground Handling and related operations. The successful completion of this six months course open doors to exciting opportunities in ground handling like Reservations, Check- in, Baggage Handling, Security, Arrivals and Departures and Ramp Handling. The four months course in Cargo & Courier Management provides a wide range of career avenues like Cargo offices of different airlines, Ground Handling agencies for domestic & international airlines, Cargo agents, Courier & Logistics companies, Import & Export business and so on. Being a Cabin Crew, one can fulfill his/her dream of travelling around the world. Cabin Crew & Hospitality Management for eight months not only focuses on the technical know-how but also on the overall personality development required to be at par with the industry standards.

“IESP has successfully trained more than 25,000 industry professionals and IESP’s team of expert trainers has catered candidates ranging from entry-level staff to Directors of organizations. We train Airline staff, Ground Handling Agents, Defence and Traffic personnel, Hoteliers, Retailers and Healthcare professionals,” says Gurpreet. The institute also offers 23 short technical courses for aviation professionals. Other than aviation, IESP also trains students in hospitality, healthcare and retail management. These course durations vary from four to six months.
“We are very particular about the performance of our students and discipline is one of the major factors that we professionals who are focused on bridging the skill gap in the aviation industry. At present, the institute works with 20 efficient trainers for aviation course.

“The whole group is being managed by an experienced team comprising of senior professionals, technical domain experts and education experts from various fields like project management, consulting, hospitality, healthcare, aviation, retail, road safety and infrastructure and so on. They bring in more than 100 person-years of cumulative experience and significant expertise into the company,” enforce on our students,” says Gurpreet. Aviation sector is an error free space and hence the institute is very strict in the assessment of the students. “The outside world does not show any mercy towards anyone and so we train our kids in the same manner and the industry also demands such kinds of resources,” adds Gurpreet.

Very strong industry connects of IESP ensures placements above 90 percent. Gurpreet feels proud at the training as the industry is in high demand of IESP resources. Today, IESP is a team, which is in demand for the ones who are very much focused towards a good career. Their plan of expanding themselves to 18 centres in future aims at training the young ones to reach the horizon of dream career.
Mumbai Institute of the year- 2016