Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Irene King: Ardmore Flying School CEO on the shortage of pilots in the aviation sector

Transcript

Irene King: Ardmore Flying School CEO on the shortage of pilots in the aviation sector · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The aviation industry is warning of a pilot and engineer
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: shortage because it's becoming too expensive to pay for training. Basically,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: demand for pilots is going up. In twenty twenty three, sorry,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: twenty thirteen, the government capped how much students could borrow
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: to cover their training costs. That much is thirty That
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: amount rather is thirty five thousand dollars per year, and
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: it can cost as much as one hundred and twenty
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: thousand for two years of flying courses. So Irene King
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: is the chief executive at Ardmore Flying School. She's with
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: me this morning. Good morning, Irene, good morning. Good to
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: have you on the show. That is very expensive. What
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: is the shortage or is the shortage just down the line,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: it's coming later.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Look, we've got a shortage right now. We're finding it
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: incredibly hard to attract people Kiwi's into the seat to
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: undertake training, and that's because they have to self fund
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: unlike any other qualification, and they have to say I'll
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: fund up to fifty thousand dollars per program. Now, what
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: you described was a two year program to be really
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: well qualified and get into the airlines. You really need
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: to do, you know, another six to nine months and
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: then you need to get a job. And most of
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: those jobs are with in the training industry itself.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: So most who graduate the pilot training school try and
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: go on to train.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: That's right, you know, the trainers train the trainers, and
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: that's that's good. Question. They have to get a few
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: hours behind them.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: And you know, I get that, this is I get
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: this is expensive. Is there an argument for your in
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: New Zealand's or do they already cover some of that cost?
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: You know, say, right, these these young men and women
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: look good. I'll cover their cost now and I know
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: that and bond them to me later.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a difficult concept. Yes, they are trying it,
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: but you know, you've got some issues around selection, and
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: you know, not everyone to cut out, even though they
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: might look great on paper. You get them in there
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: and you know, yeah, yeah, exactly.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: You know, you can't be you can't be putting all
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: your eggs in a couple of baskets, can you. All Right,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: so what so what is the solution? But what do
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: we need to do about this?
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: Okay? Essentially this problem has been brought on by policy
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: settings of the government. You know, you talked about the
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: policy settings in two thousand and thirteen. We're trying to
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: run a business in twenty twenty four costumes, but all
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: our income is frozen and are cently twenty twenty thirteen dollars,
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: So that's got to be addressed. We've got to have
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: the ability to train more that was frozen in two thousands.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: The aviation world today is very different from what it
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: was in twenty thirteen. Now. The third and probably the
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: most interesting challenge in some respects is actually getting the
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: qualification the syllabus, which was written in the mid fifties,
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: updating translated.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because otherwise people, Yeah, it's a bit ancient history.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: At the moment is now we have to leave it there.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: For more from early edition with Ryan Bridge.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Listen live to News Talks it'd be from five am weekdays,
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.