Irene King: Ardmore Flying School CEO on the shortage of pilots in the aviation sector

Pilot shortages in the aviation sector has some sounding the alarm, concerned that flights could be grounded in four years. 

There are calls for the Government to intervene, to encourage more young people to pursue the profession. 

Ardmore Flying School Chief Executive Irene King told Ryan Bridge the financial strains are to blame, with their income not keeping up with costs. 

She says they're trying to operate with the same income as in 2013. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The aviation industry is warning of a pilot and engineer
shortage because it's becoming too expensive to pay for training. Basically,
demand for pilots is going up. In twenty twenty three, sorry,
twenty thirteen, the government capped how much students could borrow
to cover their training costs. That much is thirty That
amount rather is thirty five thousand dollars per year, and

(00:20):
it can cost as much as one hundred and twenty
thousand for two years of flying courses. So Irene King
is the chief executive at Ardmore Flying School. She's with
me this morning. Good morning, Irene, good morning. Good to
have you on the show. That is very expensive. What
is the shortage or is the shortage just down the line,
it's coming later.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Look, we've got a shortage right now. We're finding it
incredibly hard to attract people Kiwi's into the seat to
undertake training, and that's because they have to self fund
unlike any other qualification, and they have to say I'll
fund up to fifty thousand dollars per program. Now, what

(01:05):
you described was a two year program to be really
well qualified and get into the airlines. You really need
to do, you know, another six to nine months and
then you need to get a job. And most of
those jobs are with in the training industry itself.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
So most who graduate the pilot training school try and
go on to train.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
That's right, you know, the trainers train the trainers, and
that's that's good. Question. They have to get a few
hours behind them.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
And you know, I get that, this is I get
this is expensive. Is there an argument for your in
New Zealand's or do they already cover some of that cost?
You know, say, right, these these young men and women
look good. I'll cover their cost now and I know
that and bond them to me later.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
Yeah, it's a difficult concept. Yes, they are trying it,
but you know, you've got some issues around selection, and
you know, not everyone to cut out, even though they
might look great on paper. You get them in there
and you know, yeah, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
You know, you can't be you can't be putting all
your eggs in a couple of baskets, can you. All Right,
so what so what is the solution? But what do
we need to do about this?

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Okay? Essentially this problem has been brought on by policy
settings of the government. You know, you talked about the
policy settings in two thousand and thirteen. We're trying to
run a business in twenty twenty four costumes, but all
our income is frozen and are cently twenty twenty thirteen dollars,

(02:51):
So that's got to be addressed. We've got to have
the ability to train more that was frozen in two thousands.
The aviation world today is very different from what it
was in twenty thirteen. Now. The third and probably the
most interesting challenge in some respects is actually getting the

(03:13):
qualification the syllabus, which was written in the mid fifties,
updating translated.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
Yeah, because otherwise people, Yeah, it's a bit ancient history.
At the moment is now we have to leave it there.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
For more from early edition with Ryan Bridge.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
Listen live to News Talks it'd be from five am weekdays,
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