Top stuff Wellsy - 
Via the Oz today:
Via the Oz today:
Quote:Local flight school inks Asia dealMTF...P2
MATTHEW DENHOLM
About 75 Malaysian pilots will be trained in Tasmania each year under a deal between the state’s regional airline and Air Asia.
Local flight school in deal to train 75 Air Asia pilots
About 75 Malaysian pilots will be trained in Tasmania each year under a landmark deal between the state’s regional airline and Air Asia.
The managing director of Hobart-based Par Avion, Shannon Wells, told The Australian the deal showed that Australian flight schools could play a role in addressing the global pilot shortage.
An initial 10 Malaysians who had started their flight training in Malaysia would come to Hobart in the next month to complete their qualifications.
“Then, provided the Malaysian government is happy with the standard we set, Air Asia is intending to send about 75 pilots to Tasmania to learn to fly, which is really exciting,” Mr Wells said.
“The pilot shortage is getting pretty serious but hopefully we play a bit of a role in Tasmania. We’ve got the airspace, we’ve got the great education standards, the weather and the terrain. It’s the perfect place.
“Air Asia is rapidly expanding across Southeast Asia and while they’ve got lots of cadets that want to fly for them, there is a real lack of infrastructure in the country to train up the vast numbers that they want.”
Air Asia spokesman Kris Taute said the deal was part of the airline’s global training program, which offered new cadets “the opportunity to learn from some of the best instructors and aviation training schools”.
“In the coming year, around 75 new recruits will undertake their CPL (commercial pilot licence) and instrument training under the direction of an Australian instructor, alongside nine months of practical training in Hobart,” Mr Taute said.
Mr Wells said it was the first deal of its kind for Tasmania. “It means five to 10 more (instructor) jobs for us and we have to invest millions of dollars more in aircraft,” he said.
It may also require Par Avion to expand its current Hobart pilot school, based at Cambridge Aerodrome, to new operations in Devonport, in the state’s northwest.
Australian pilots and flight schools have long complained the shortage of pilots in this country is in part linked to the excessive and costly regulatory burden of training pilots for domestic aviation.
In recent years, some Australian pilot schools have been taken over by Chinese companies to meet their needs, while Australia has allowed the use of foreign pilots on skills shortage visas.
At the same time, Asian airlines have poached senior Australian pilots and instructors.
Mr Wells said his company’s deal with Air Asia showed that Australian flying schools could play a role in addressing the global pilot shortage.
“It has cost a lot of money in (regulatory) approvals, a lot of administration, so it is difficult. But if you can find an opportunity, there is demand,” he said.
“There are lots of (pilot) schools across the country desperate to grow and expand their businesses.
“It’s just a matter of whether they have the money, the time and the patience to do it.”