Skilled people will take aviation, tourism to new heights
_A Monitor Report
Dhaka : Bangladeshis are unique in their nature. The country has a large number of manpower. The Princeton Education is adding value to this manpower industry by providing skill especially in the aviation and tourism sector. It is these skills which will take aviation and tourism in our country to new heights.
Golam Muhammad Quader, Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism, said this while addressing the certificate awarding ceremony of The Prince Education at the Lake Shore hotel at Gulshan in the city on June 27. Air Commodore (Retd.) A K M Harun Chowdhury ndc, pse (Retd.), former Chairman, Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh was present as special guest. Hanif Zakaria, Emirates' Area Manager Bangladesh, managers of many foreign and local airlines and representative and owners of leading travel agencies were also present on the occasion.
The Princeton Education, an institute for aviation training, is conducting the Foundation Course on Travel Agency and Airlines since May 15, 2008.
On completion of one year the institute arranged the certificate giving ceremony for the students who have successfully completed its first five batches. Out of 55 students 48 received their certificates on the occasion. The students received two certificates, one for the theoretical part from The Princeton Education and one from The Abacus System. Abacus is one of the leading global distribution systems (GDS) for airline reservation and ticketing, which has been continuously supporting the Princeton Education from the beginning by giving training to their students.
Air Commodore AKM Harun Chowdhury, former Chair-man, Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh, said the presence of Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister not only recognises the hard work and firm commitment of the institution but also symbolises concern of the government to develop the much ignored but important aviation sector of the country.
He pointed out that the world's aircraft fleet is expected to grow to nearly 33,000 while the passenger traffic will shoot up to 11.4 trillion by the year 2026. In Bangladesh as well, the passenger growth rate is recording an upward trend and stood at 7.92m per cent in 2008 from 2.63 per cent of 2004. At present more than five million passengers travel yearly and if the present trend continues, this number will be double in 2026.
He said, the future trend points out the need for skilled manpower in this sector to address the ascending growth rate of air travellers. We need pilots to fly aircraft, engineers to maintain those but at the same time we need well-trained hands to serve the passengers who are essentially the target group. Customer service starts right at the reservation desk; continues through sales, ticketing, airport handling, in-flight hospitality and terminates at the destination airport. It's a complex but inter-linked method which demands pro-active business strategy.
In such a perspective The Prince Edu-cation is a step forward and has done an excellent job by preparing more than fifty young talents to take up different responsibilities in the aviation sector. Training is a painstaking process which needs to be meticulously planned, well organised and strictly executed with sincerity, dedication, commitment but passion. I am confident the Princeton Education must have ensured the quality of training and set the right tone for the future, he said
Air Commo-dore AKM Harun Chowdhury said, the aviation industry in our country with its booming pace now demands matured leadership and appropriate expertise to meet the challenges of the contemporary period. It requires innovative vision and categorical move to accomplish the gigantic task of reshaping the existing mindset and providing new concept of aviation. Perhaps, it's time to evaluate all our actions in terms of dynamic management, well-timed policies, modern equipments, up-to-date training, and a group of self-motivated professionals, rather than quantifying individual success or failure.
He told the graduating students that their profession is pretty much customer-based and service-oriented rather than labour intensive or action dominated, and therefore, it's not how much they personally gain but how best they utilise the training to take the customer satisfaction level higher, which shall be the benchmark for future evaluation.
Hanif Zakaria in his speech requested other foreign and local airlines managers and representatives who were present on the occasion, to employ students who are passing from The Prin-ceton Educa-tion.
On his part, Hanif Zakaria is supporting The Princeton Education since its opening by providing attachment to its students.
Sangeeta Khan said about an year back, when The Princeton Education started its journey with the Aviation Basic Training course, it was ?our commitment to do our best to motivate, develop, grow personality, do all basic courses for civil aviation and finally making students a good human being.?
?So far, we have completed courses of five successful batches, totalling about fifty students and to recognise their effort have arranged this ceremonial awarding of certificates,? she said. ?The success will have to be proven by our students in the real life situation and their expertise if recognised by the end user.?
A raffle draw was held at the end of the ceremony, where the first prize was Dhaka-Dubai-Dhaka return ticket sponsored by Emirates Airlines, second prize was Dhaka- Kolkata-Dhaka return ticket sponsored by Jet Airways and third and fourth prizes were Astroclock sponsored by The Etihad Airways. The winners are Ripon Kumar Saha, Fahim Rahman, Sirjum Munira and Jahangir Alam.
Moammed Waqui, CEO of The Princeton Education and Zulfikar Hyder Khan, Course Director also spoke on the occasion.
_A Monitor Report
