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New Zealand’s pilot training industry has stalled and will not recover without international students willing to pay more than $ 100,000 to train, says industry group Aviation NZ.
The Hamilton-based L3 Airline Academy aviation industry training school is expected to close early next year with the loss of some 170 jobs. Covid-19 border restrictions keep out international students who make up 70 percent of its business.
On the L3Harris website, applications for the New Zealand Diploma in the $ 140,853 Aviation Flight Instructor Program were still being received, with a December 31 deadline.
Earlier this month, staff were informed that Covid-19 travel restrictions accelerated the decision to consolidate aerial training at overseas sites, but were not the overriding factor.
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About 170 employees will lose their jobs when L3 Airline Academy, based at Hamilton Airport, closes in February.
The company was consulting with staff and a decision was expected in early December. L3 Airline Academy has been contacted for comment.
An allotment of 440 visas, the same amount approved for Russian fishermen, over the next six months would save the industry, said Aviation NZ CEO John Nicholson.
By September, 394 international students had signed up to train in New Zealand. Some of them had visas, but none were able to enter the country.
Nicholson had spoken with the Ministry of Enterprise, Innovation and Employment; the Ministry of Education; and the Ministry of Transportation on obtaining student visas for pilot trainees.
“It’s really difficult to engage with them on this, other than a simple no.”
There has been an increase in interest in training in New Zealand given the country’s success in dealing with Covid-19 and the quality of the training, he said.
“New Zealand has a unique and strategic advantage at the moment – the airlines knocking on our door and our ability to train so many future airline leaders, did not exist before this year,” he said.
“The government needs urgent action to try to retain L3 Airline Academy, allow international cadets to enter the country and ensure the continuation of the pilot training industry.”
The industry was expected to generate around $ 51 million in foreign exchange earnings and generate at least $ 226 million in economic activity.
There has been a lot of interest from New Zealand students for training in 2021, but that would not make up for lost international students who generally make up 70 percent of the total, he said.
The New Zealand Academy of International Aviation, based in Christchurch, had 71 students waiting to enter the country, said managing director Jeremy Ford.
“Seventy percent of our business is in the international market and that is slowly decreasing every day, essentially.
“If 440 visas were approved, I fully support it, that would literally save the industry and many companies.”
GEORGE HEARD / THINGS
New Zealand’s International Aviation Academy has 71 students waiting to enter the country, says managing director Jeremy Ford.
The academy faces significant restructuring, Ford said.
“We are good until July, August of next year. That’s when we’ll have to make some pretty tough decisions as a company. “
It employed 70 people and underwent commercial pilot training that lasted from 18 months to two years. The average course costs about $ 116,000.
“We train pilots for Vietnam Airlines, they are another customer who is waiting for our borders to be opened, so they can continue to send their cadets,” said Ford.
“There is a significant number of students who stay here for a long period of time, all of our students are high value customers and the economic impact in the region and especially on the western side of Christchurch is great.”
Paying for two weeks of quarantine is probably not a problem for them, he said, and the academy wanted to make sure New Zealanders were protected.
“I’m sure that, given the investment our clients are making in their careers, paying for quarantine will not be a problem for two weeks.”
The students came primarily from the Asia-Pacific region, including India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Japan.
New Zealand’s flight training industry is highly respected internationally, with L3Harris, formerly CTC, raising the bar, he said.
Despite the enormous impact of the coronavirus on aviation, training schools had to be able to seize the opportunity when the industry changed.
Boeing has predicted that it will need 248,000 new pilots in the Asia-Pacific region over the next 20 years, which it had revised down from 260,000 prior to Covid-19.
“If we were to take 1 percent of that and train them for the next 20 years … that’s our business at full capacity,” Ford said.
“We are trying to weather this moment when there is no demand in the international travel sector, but when I return there will definitely be demand there.
“There are still people who want to learn to fly and there are still airlines who want to send their cadets here to train.”
