Entrepreneur@IIMB

Name: Amit Singh, the co-founder
Start-up: SKY ASIA AVIATION


I: What is Sky Asia Aviation?
A: Sky Asia Aviation is a flight clearing and flight handling agency approved by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India. It obtains India overflying and landing flight permits for our foreign airline clients. For flights landing in India, it also arranges and supervise their ground handlings. We liaison with foreign airlines, DGCA, airport authorities, consulates, etc. Our role with respect to each operation depends on the type of flight broadly classified into scheduled and non-scheduled flights. Majority of my work caters to handling non-scheduled flights. In scheduled flights, currently we take overflying flight permits for Garuda Indonesia airline and Bangkok Airways. Among non-scheduled flights, some of the prominent flights handled by us so far includes a VVIP flight of Princess of Thailand, Dangerous Goods flight carrying missiles, many Ambulance flights, and Tourist Charter flights for Bangkok Airways (Bangkok Airways was the first International airline to land at Gorakhpur during operation which is a Defence airport) and Taban Air. On behalf of whomsoever airline we take permits for, we are fully responsible / accountable for its operation in India.  

I: How do you see this business grow?
A: The business is volume based. More the number of your clients and more the number of flights handled, more is your turnover. However, depending on the type of flight operations the costs vary. Aviation is a broad field so one can always venture into new areas inside it.

I: What major obstacle did you face initially?
A: Learning professional terminologies in the field of aviation took some time to understand. Also, learning the paperwork part for different flight operations was a difficult task. The major obstacle was working on the field and learning with each type of flight operation. The experience gained with each flight helped in future flight operations.  

I: How will MBA and IIM B help you in taking this forward?
A: MBA will definitely help in understanding various nuances of business still unknown to me. The institute is filled with bright and highly skilful minds be it the Pedagogy or the fellow students. Their diversity and experience provides great opportunities for learning for each one of us. I intend to make great use of the tremendous resources within this 100 acre campus over my next two years. Though my work mainly is the field of operations but this place provides ample knowledge in other fields like marketing, finance, strategy and various other fields. After MBA, expansion will be the objective which can be achieved by getting more clients with the possibility of starting my own ground handling services.

I: What do you think about the entrepreneurship in IIMB?
A: IIM B already has one of the best minds of the country. Anybody who has an idea can get professional help from the faculty and NSRCEL. There are some courses on entrepreneurship and even Eximius to encourage entrepreneurs. We have already heard some of the success stories of this institute like Urban Ladder and I believe there are many more success stories in the making. We just have to believe in our ideas and should be willing to take the leap of faith!

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