“The pain point for students coming into the country was the visa process — other training countries like Australia and the USA have a much easier and faster visa processing process.”
Eagle Flight Training has 16 international students at the moment.
“We would like to get that back to the 30-plus mark, where it was prior to Covid,” Mr Judd said.
“The industry is strong — there is a shortage of pilots worldwide. The market we work in predominantly is the Vietnamese market. Currently VNA and Vietjet are wanting to train 100-150 cadets per year each, and all cadets are privately funded — however, airlines are looking at the option of going back to airline-funded training programmes to attract talent who want to be pilots but do not have access to the funding required to achieve their goals.”
Aviation NZ chief executive Simon Wallace said each international pilot cadet added more than $540,000 in economic activity to the region in which they train (including fees, accommodation, meals and other activities).
“This calculation comes from a report New Horizons provided for NZ Trade & Enterprise in 2009 and, to our knowledge, is the only economic analysis of the value of pilot training to New Zealand.”
In a Gisborne context, that would be worth more than $16m a year if Eagle could attract the 30 cadets a year it hopes for.
Nationally, it would add up to $162m if the Vietnamese airlines’ need to train 300 pilots a year could be fulfilled here.
“In addition, parents traditionally come from Vietnam to visit their children while they are studying and/or when they graduate,” Mr Wallace said.
“Visa processing issues are a problem with Immigration New Zealand taking too long to grant visas to prospective students — Australia can do this in three days — so this is a barrier and Aviation NZ is taking this up with Immigration NZ and the new Minister of Immigration.
“Pilot training is a high-value activity. The last government recognised this when a border class exception was announced for international pilot cadets in November 2021.”
Pre-Covid, Vietnam was the third largest source of international pilot cadets to New Zealand. Between 2016 and 2022, 126 Vietnamese cadets gained their commercial pilots licences in New Zealand.
Mr Wallace said the mission was to show that New Zealand was “open for business”.
“It was important to get the market going again.
“Only four NZ companies are approved by the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam to train for Vietnam and they all participated (Ardmore Flying School, Eagle Flight Training in Gisborne, International Aviation Academy and NZ Airline Academy).
“Organised by peak industry body, Aviation NZ, we were able to organise a series of meetings and activities at a senior level and using the New Zealand Ambassador (Hanoi) and NZ Consul General (Ho Chi Minh City), that would probably have been beyond individual companies.
“These industry meetings also provided time around which individual companies such as Eagle could progress company relationships and work.”
The group spent time with Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam deputy director general Ho Minh Tan, who spoke very positively about the calibre of pilot that returned from New Zealand. He said they gained flying and life skills which made them all-round very good pilots.
“The meeting identified some issues that could be addressed at government-to-government level.
“The group engaged with government officials and airlines in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. This occurred at the embassy and consulate general and permitted a less formal method of engagement than is possible in each other’s offices.
“The market is very competitive, with that competition coming from the United States, Canada, UK, Australia, EU and South Africa. Some countries remained open during Covid and increased capability, so there is now much more international competition in overseas markets.
“The group also met 20 education agents (in person and online) to explain why they should consider promoting pilot training in New Zealand.”
