The academy was banking on 100 new cadets from Indian airline IndiGo by the end of April.
A report from Whanganui District Council Holdings chairwoman Carolyn van Leuven said 14 had arrived by April 23, with 43 additional cadets identified.
Eight had received visas, six had their visas being processed, five were training but had not applied for a visa and 24 were approved by IndiGo but not yet in training.
Holdings board member Lucy Ellwood said its confidence in the cadet pipeline had eroded.
“What we did understand last year when visas were being slowly processed by Immigration New Zealand [was] that some students dropped out of that pipeline and chose Australia instead,” she said.
“I haven’t heard yet why that pipeline isn’t converting as expected.”
Ellwood said it was unclear whether the delays were at a student level - if they had “decided to take a few weeks before uprooting their lives and moving here” - and there would be further investigation.
Van Leuven said cadets needed to complete three months of ground training and pass exams in India before coming to Whanganui.
“At that point, they are offered a placement letter to attend the flight school and that commits them to the fees and visa requirements.”
Her report said the NZICPA also predicted 100 per cent occupancy of its accommodation properties - Hato Hōhepa (formerly Nazareth Rest Home) and College Estate (formerly Collegiate Motor Inn) - by April.
“We had an IndiGo surge last year when they opened the borders but it’s diminishing now, slowly.”
Councillor Michael Law said Hato Hōhepa should be opened immediately for emergency accommodation.
“There are 69 beds there and winter is cold,” he said.
“I would urge the chair to think about this over the coming weeks.”
Meanwhile, a shutdown of a Continental diesel engine in one of the academy’s planes has prompted the grounding of all aircraft with that engine - nine in total.
Van Leuven’s report said it was “a serious and disappointing development” with near-term production and cost implications.
She told the committee that was about 40 per cent of the academy’s fleet, but there were still “plenty” of planes to accommodate current cadet numbers.
“At the moment, [the academy is] going through detailed engineering assessments with the manufacturer.
“They are not entirely sure at this stage what the cause is.”
Van Leuven said the landing had been “textbook” and Holdings was confident the academy, from a health and safety perspective, was discharging its duties more than adequately.
“Their abundance of caution over health and safety is one of the reasons those nine aircraft are being grounded,” she said.
Mike Tweed is an assistant news director and multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present, his focus is local government, primarily Whanganui District Council.