International aviation students are finally being let into the country, a month after the council signed off on another $150,000 for the council-owned academy. Photo / Bevan Conley
International aviation students are finally being let into the country, a month after the council signed off on another $150,000 for the council-owned academy. Photo / Bevan Conley
Whanganui's council-owned pilot academy has received an additional $150,000 as the Government moves to allow more international students into the country.
The New Zealand International Commercial Pilot Academy, based at Whanganui Airport, is owned by Whanganui District Council through its commercial arm, Whanganui District Council Holdings Limited.
Since international bordersclosed at the beginning of last year, the academy has consistently lobbied the Government, alongside local leaders and the wider aviation sector, to allow student pilots into the country.
In December last year the academy made three staff redundant, citing financial pressures due to a lack of international students as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
A letter from Whanganui MP Steph Lewis to Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins in April this year suggested the academy was at risk of losing its $35 million contract with Indian airline IndiGo if an exemption wasn't made.
On July 31, in an attempt to prevent the business going under with no decision on international students having yet been made, the council signed off on a $150,000 lifeline for the business.
In a statement to the Chronicle at the time, the council said a further payment of another $150,000 could be made in September on the condition the Government had made an announcement permitting international students to enter, "to enable the company to continue to operate in a solvent manner".
But 17 days after that decision, New Zealand was in lockdown battling a Covid-19 Delta outbreak and no decision was made by Cabinet on the future of international students.
The business was purchased by the council's commercial arm in 2015 and opened at its premises at Whanganui Airport in September 2017. Photo / Bevan Conley
On September 14, once Whanganui was back in alert level 2, a closed-door council meeting was held.
Presenting to that meeting was NZICPA chief executive Phill Bedford and council holding company chairman Declan Millin, according to the published agenda.
Councillors the Chronicle spoke with would not detail the nature of that presentation, citing confidentiality.
On September 23, nine days after the meeting, the second payment of $150,000 was made to the NZICPA via the purchase of shares, according to information released to the Chronicle following an Official Information Act request.
Council expects money back - McDouall
Meanwhile, on Friday the Ministry of Education announced the Government had agreed to allow 400 international aviation students into the country - welcome news to Whanganui mayor Hamish McDouall.
"We've been waiting for it. We understood that this was agreed by Cabinet some weeks ago.
"Obviously we won't get the full cohort of IndiGo students because we can't expect to get all 150 students in, but we will get a significant portion."
McDouall said he expected a return on the money council has put into the academy.
