New partnership will help budding pilots

New partnership will help budding pilots

A partnership between New Zealand's largest airline and an Invercargill aviation college will help the country's budding commercial pilots get a foot in the door.

Launched this week, the Air New Zealand Aviation Institute has partnered with five Kiwi flight training organisations to develop career training options for aspiring pilots. Southern Wings, located at Invercargill Airport, was one of the organisations to make the cut after a "rigorous" selection process.

Chief executive and chief pilot Bryan Jones said the association with Air New Zealand had its advantages, and meant changes in the way Southern Wings trained its students.

Previously students would complete their training and the required 200 hours of flying time (for a commercial pilot), gain industry experience and then be recruited by an airline and trained for that job. Under the new programme, aspiring pilots would be trained and prepared for an airline job from the very start and would have to meet the new standard whether they planned to fly for commercial airlines or not. Once trained, pilots would be eligible for the airline induction programme as they would have met airline-style entry criteria.

"They are stepping right back to the beginning, the very first day they go to a training institution they are learning how to do things the airline way. Up until now Air New Zealand recruited from industry, now they are doing the selection before training begins," senior instructor and chief ground instructor Tony Dawson said. "A better standard of candidate is required. Our focus has always been quality and Air New Zealand recognises that."

While the new training programme would not mean all students would be guaranteed a job with Air New Zealand once qualified, it would move them to the top of the list when they applied for jobs with the airline in the future.

Air New Zealand had created the programme to "ensure a future supply of commercial airline pilots is available for the New Zealand aviation industry – including Air New Zealand".

The flight training organisations selected are Southern Wings (Invercargill), Air Hawke's Bay (Hastings), International Aviation Academy of New Zealand (Christchurch), Massey University School of Aviation (Palmerston North) and Nelson Aviation College (Motueka).

Get your Commercial Pilot Licence with Southern Wings today by visiting the website at http://www.southernwings.co.nz

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