Foreign growth

Most of the growth in flight training has come from training foreign pilots. Many of these pilots have come from India, where its booming airline sector has led to a shortage of airline pilots. As flight training is considerably more expen-sive in India, many pilots and cadets are coming to Australia to undertake their training to all levels of licences and endorsements. Malcolm Poulton, chief pilot of Proflite Australia estimates that approximately 80 per cent of students at Bankstown are foreign, with many in his organisation doing their multi engine endorsements.

In order to cater for this increased demand, a number of flying schools are begin-ning to receive CRICOS (Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students) accreditation, which allows their foreign students the ability to gain a student visa. Similarly, many independ-ent flying organisations are now also accredited to offer Certificate, Diploma and in some cases Bachelors degree qualifications to accompany their flight and theory train-ing. These are in addition to a number of TAFEs and universities around the country which also offer these courses as part of a flight training package.

The growth which has come from foreign students has led to a shortage of qualified instructors across the industry. Both inde-pendent flying schools and airline operated schools, such as China Southern Flying College at Jandakot, are finding it difficult to keep up with the demand for instructors of all grades. Poulton says that it is now possible for Grade 3 instruc-tors with no instructing time to go straight in to a job. Moreover, many instructors are now taking advantage of the tight market for instructors to push for pay increases. This could lead to a general increase in the cost of flight training for both local and foreign students.

While there has been an increase in foreign students, fewer and fewer young Australians are taking up flying training. The high costs of flight training and a general lack of interest in taking on a flying career has led to a drop in local students undertaking flight training. This has hurt the operators which don’t have CRICOS accreditation, and has been a driving force for some of these operators to get such accreditation.

Although this would seem to paint a brighter picture for the future of flying training, there are a number of challenges. Firstly, many flight schools still operate older aircraft, predomi-nately Cessna 152s and Piper Warriors. As the training fleet ages, there will be an increased need for mainte-nance on these aircraft and there is already a shortage of maintenance engineers. The public perception of older aircraft can also prove a marketing disadvantage for some schools.

This has seen some flying schools recently roll over their training fleets and replace them with newer aircraft. Bankstown based Basair has recently acquired a fleet of Tecnam Sierras as its primary training aircraft. Other flying schools have added Diamond DA-20s and Grob 155s. Some schools are also beginning to take on CASA registered ultralight-type aircraft such as Jabirus, which have a substantially lower acquisition and run-ning costs as an alternative to the larger GA trainers. These newer aircraft are more fuel efficient, require less maintenance and are also more appealing to potential students.

Costs are a continual prob-lem for many flight training operators. Spikes in the price of avgas during 2006, as well as increased CASA charges have all increased the cost of flight training. This has made it more expensive for many students to build their hours, and has led to some termi-nating their training, while other prospective students are being put off by the cost.

The long term future of GA facilities has also become a recent issue for some flying schools. Jandakot and Bankstown, Australia’s big-gest training airports, have both recently had proposals to either reduce their flying activity or even redevelop the land for commercial and residential use. In the case of Bankstown, the airport’s holding company is advocat-ing moving more training flights out to Camden air-port, while Jandakot’s owners are looking to build a new GA airport further south of Perth. Flying schools at both facilities are vehemently opposed to the proposals.

The recent increase in security measures for GA, which now sees all pilots having to have either an ASIC or AVID card, has been a headache for many flying schools. The require-ment for this has led to some major delays in issuing these identification cards, which has also impacted on the ability of many operators to train commercial pilots, and in some cases hiring new instructors. In the medium term this may still present a problem until the systems for background checks and issu-ing licences adapt to handle the new requirements.

Another challenge is the perception of flying as a career. The glamour of flying has largely worn off for many Australian teenag-ers, and the long hours of GA flying to become an airline pilot have made it a less attractive career option. Longer term, this could lead to problems recruiting pilots for other commercial GA operations, something which is already being experienced in remote areas of WA and NT. This may have a longer term effect on Virgin Blue, Qantas and Jetstar, who are all planning to take on more aircraft over the next decade.

The introduction of the Multi-crew Pilot’s Licence (MPL), which CASA is likely to implement in 2007 (refer feature elsewhere this issue), will also provide another challenge for commercial training organisations. Under the proposed new licence, pilots will be able to bypass flight training and instead build their hours on a simula-tor. After the required 250 hours on simulator, students will then be able to progress through to a first officer on a commercial airliner. Although this will be an expensive route, it does offer the promise of an airline job sooner and without having to spend the appropriate time in a training aircraft. Longer term, this could become the preferred method of training for new airline pilots, which would pose a major challenge to flight training schools.

The increasing popularity of ultralight flying and the ultralight pilot certificate is also proving a challenge to GA flying schools. These licences are administered by Recreational Aviation Australia (RA-Aus) and are easier to obtain and maintain than a CASA PPL. While the recreational licence only allows for flying ‘ultralights’, these aircraft are generally significantly cheaper to ac-quire and run, making them an increasingly attractive alternative to flying tradition-al GA aircraft. Anecdotally it certainly appears that many students who would normally do a PPL course are now choosing to get their ultralight licenses instead.

With the increasing inter-est in recreational aviation, some training organisations are changing their operations to include training on these types of aircraft. The Royal Victorian Aero Club is one such organisation which is planning to introduce an RA-Aus approved course which will be taught us-ing its recently acquired SportStar aircraft. In time, this could lead to courses which integrate recreational and GA licences as a cost effective way for students to build hours and also have the flexibility to fly a variety of aircraft.

Australia’s flying training industry has been enjoying a recent renewal, which looks likely to continue in 2007 and beyond. Many operators have adapted their operations to take hold of the opportunity to train foreign pilots and also to deal with the chal-lenges which are being faced by the industry. Some longer-term challenges remain, but the general feeling among the industry is that these can be met and overall that the future remains bright.