Reaching for the skies

BY ROELAND VAN DEN BERGH

Every day hundreds of young fliers take to the air around the country in pursuit of a career as an airline pilot.

The stars are aligning for them as the world's airlines begin to recover from two years of battling through the global economic crisis.

Aircraft sales have picked up, passengers have returned, and the outlook is looking a lot healthier.

IATA is forecasting airlines to make a collective profit of US$2.5 billion (NZ$3.45b) this year, turning around massive losses over the most recent years. And at this month's aviation showcase at Farnborough, the two big aircraft makers Boeing and Airbus announced new orders for 360 planes.

More planes means a need for more pilots.

The chairman of New Zealand Aviation Industry's flight training division, Kevin England, says the time is right for budding pilots to earn their wings.

Pilot demand is directly linked to the global economy and health of the airline system, Mr England says.

Airlines all but stopped hiring during the global financial crisis, but the doors are gradually being opened.

Now New Zealand flying schools are hoping to cash in on a pending pilot training boom for tens of thousands of pilots over the next 15 years.

The pilot training industry is worth about $53 million a year in New Zealand, according to an industry report commissioned by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise. Of that, foreign students account for $15m.

But the New Horizons Aviation Report forecasts the training industry could double in value by 2015, with foreign students making up the bulk of the growth and increasing their value to $56m.

Hamilton's CTC Aviation Training and Massey University dominate the training industry, and have invested heavily in new aircraft.

CTC New Zealand chief executive Ian Calvert says most of the demand for new pilots will come from China, South East Asia and the Middle East.

These regions have ordered huge numbers of aircraft but lack the capacity to train all the pilots needed to fly them, Mr Calvert says.

Foreign students have gradually gained in numbers in recent years as struggling flying schools have looked to diversify their income.

Government funding for full time student pilots has been fixed since 2003 at $5 million a year.

Since then the cost of fuel has more than doubled, maintenance and other operation costs are up at least a third.

Mr England says the training industry can not survive on training New Zealand pilots alone.

Demand for pilots from domestic airlines is notoriously fickle.

Air New Zealand says it will not need a significant number of new jet pilots until 2016.

"If we didn't have an international market, we would be in dire straits to be honest," Mr England says.

Four years ago foreign students made up just 10 per cent of flying school rolls. Today that is about 40 per cent.

However, most foreign students are here independently, hoping to use their new pilot qualifications to pick up a job with an airline back home.

The real growth will come from winning contracts to train hundreds of pilots directly for airlines under cadetship schemes.

Mr England says: "For that to happen, there has got to be some kind of standardisation and consistency on how we deliver a programme".

The NZTE report recommends an "Academy New Zealand" be established to market flying schools under a single banner and co-ordinate training standards.

Mr Calvert says airlines want to deal directly with just one provider who, in turn, subcontracts part of the work to other organisation.

CTC is a British-owned multi-national pilot training company. Most of the 200-odd students at its Hamilton Airport campus are destined to fly for European airlines, including budget airline Easyjet.

"You need a company like ours to get the contract and then to use other training providers on a subcontract basis," Mr Calvert says.

CTC is already in talks with a polytechnic and two airlines in South East Asia, as well as another two airlines in the Middle East and a major Chinese airline.

Mr Calvert is confident that at least one big contract will be landed in less than a year.

CTC predicts that it will inject another $150m into the Waikato economy over the next 10 years if it can double cadet numbers to 400.

"So we see the potential as huge," but the industry cannot over-promise and under-deliver, Mr Calvert says.

"And we have got to be able to show that we can handle not five or 10 or 20 students, we have got to be able to take 100."

In order to ramp up capability, the industry will need government support to attract investment capital for new planes and to build infrastructure.

Most schools will have to replace the out-of-date Cessna 152 and Piper Tomahawk two-seat trainers to be in the running at huge cost.

Even Cessna's new Skycatcher trainer is expected to cost about $200,000 when it goes on sale later this year.

MR CALVERT also warns that the growth over the next few years will not last forever.

"We have got to be a bit careful that we don't get carried away. We are better to take a small slice of a very big pie and do it well and maintain it."

That way, if some countries or airlines move more of their training back home, New Zealand has a better chance of retaining any overflow.

Massey University School of Aviation chief executive Ashok Poduval says the industry is not doing enough to attract international students.

"We Kiwis hide our light under a bushel, we are experts in doing that. But when you market internationally you should be beating your drums loud."

Massey has about 100 students in its flight training programme of which about 10 per cent are from overseas.

There has been interest from foreign airlines, but the university has a commitment to domestic students and limited capacity to target foreign students.

CTC has recently won part of a contract to train pilots for Australian airline Jetstar under a new cadetship programme, the first of its kind in New Zealand or Australia.

CTC already trains pilots in Hamilton for similar programmes for European airlines.

For Jetstar, the cadetship provides a reliable stream of pilots trained specifically for its requirements as the airline pursues an aggressive growth strategy.

The fast-track programmes allow students to fly as a co-pilot on a jet with as few as 250 hours flying under their belts, under the guidance of an experience captain.

Air New Zealand and Pacific Blue are also moving to cadetship schemes after traditionally relying on recruiting pilots from the general aviation sector.

Pilots have been hired from flying schools, tourism and charter airlines and air ambulance operators.

Mr England says it takes three to five years for pilots to accumulate the 2000 hours needed to be considered by a regional airline if they progress through the general aviation ranks.

At least 3000 hours and more likely 5000 hours experience is needed to progress to jets.

Mr England says the cadet programmes will benefit flying schools who will be contracted to provide the basic training before the student moves into advanced training using the airline's simulators.

- © Fairfax NZ News