Government may need help of redundant Air Force engineers

By AUDREY YOUNG

Redundant Air Force engineers may have to be rehired and millions of dollars spent to get the mothballed Aermacchi jet trainers and Skyhawks in flying condition for a going-concern sale.

Defence Minister Mark Burton said that if that were the case - and he would not confirm it - it would be part of a "sensible and prudent" plan to sell the planes.

Most of the Aermacchis and Skyhawks have been in storage since going on the market in December following the Government's decision to disband the air combat wing of the Air Force.

The Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice-Marshal John Hamilton, contracted Ernst & Young to sell the 17 Aermacchis and 17 Skyhawks.

Mr Burton said no deal had been signed. He would not say whether a deal was reaching its finality.

But Act MP Rodney Hide said plans were under way to hire engineers and get the Aermacchis in going order. Only three engines were serviceable, and the others would have to be stripped down at a cost of $15 million before being delivered to their new, unknown owner. The cost for the Skyhawks would be higher.

Delivery would be in three stages over 18 months, sources had told him.

Mr Hide said the Air Force had wanted to keep on more staff when it disbanded the combat wing but Prime Minister Helen Clark was intent on getting rid of it.

The estimated savings for disbanding the air combat wing were $87 million a year for 10 years.

"Keeping the combat air wing was never going to cost as much as people thought," Mr Hide said.

"The savings in getting rid of it are small. The decision was an ideological one."

Mr Burton said both fleets were effectively mothballed because that was the most cost-effective way of maintaining them in a sale process that might take one month or two years.

"It's very much in keeping with standard practice elsewhere.

"The Arizona desert is full of planes, under cover, for just this reason."

If the aircraft were sold as a going concern and required work, the cost would be met from the sale price.

In the meantime, the Government had saved millions on maintenance.

His most updated advice was that no deal had been signed, but it would be "improper" to comment on any sale negotiations.

He would not comment on the possible embarrassment of having to rehire engineers or retrain pilots.

Last year the Air Force faced 350 job cuts, mostly through disbanding the air combat wing, and 183 of those were through discharges or redundancies.

A spokesman for the Air Force would not comment on Mr Hide's claims.

Reports in June suggested Malaysia and the Philippines were potential buyers.

The planes are difficult to value. But in 2000, when former Act MP Derek Quigley prepared a report on the proposal to replace the Skyhawks with F-16 fighters, he estimated the Skyhawks were worth up to $140 million.

nzherald.co.nz/defence