seems it is true - article in todays Financial Mail on Sunday, - you can find it if you search for the newspaper. It says:
THE company that trains pilots for customers such as British Airways and Thomas Cook could soon be under new ownership.
Oxford Aviation Training, which caters for the civil and military sectors, has been put up for sale by BBA Aviation.
The UK-listed aircraft maintenance group is understood to have instructed advisers from accountancy giant PricewaterhouseCoopers to sound out buyers.
The business, which has attracted strong interest from private equity firms, could sell for between £70 million and £80 million.
The firm, established more than 40 years ago, operates two residential pilot training centres — at Oxford Airport and at Phoenix Goodyear Airport in the Arizona desert.
Pilots who have trained to become a first officer on one of Oxford Aviation’s £60,000 courses are usually recruited by airlines such as British Airways, BMI and easyJet.
Since it was founded in 1963 the company has trained more than 20,000 commercial pilots.
Sales at Oxford Aviation Training were £18 million in 2006 — an increase of 20 per cent on the previous year. Higher revenues reflected the explosion in air travel that has followed the arrival of cheap, no-frills carriers such as Ryanair and easyJet.
Shares in BBA Aviation, which has a current market value of £1.15 billion, closed on Friday at 281p, down 1.13 per cent.