The NZICPA will close in mid-2026. Photo / NZME
When it closes mid-year, Whanganui’s commercial pilot academy will have cost the district council about $11 million.
The New Zealand International Commercial Pilot Academy (NZICPA) will shut by June 30 and Whanganui district councillors will decide today whether to launch an independent review of the facility.
A council report said an estimated loss of $2.5m was expected from the sale of NZICPA assets, with an operating deficit of $8.5m.
The academy was severely affected by the outbreak of Covid-19 and last year it was investigated by the Civil Aviation Authority and the NZ Qualifications Authority for safety and quality of training, respectively.
NZICPA’s Part 141 certificate, required to deliver commercial pilot flight training, was subsequently suspended for more than a month.
It is now operating out of the Wanganui Aero Club premises. The New Zealand Airline Academy moved into its former facilities at Whanganui Airport at the start of the year.
The council is the sole NZICPA shareholder and it is overseen by the council’s commercial arm, Whanganui District Council Holdings Ltd (WDCHL).
The report said the scale of the financial impact on the council from its investment in NZICPA was significant and expected to generate a high level of public interest.
Council officers recommended an independent review, which would mean unbudgeted expenditure of between $50,000 and $100,000, it said.
“The purpose of the review is to support the council’s understanding of the decisions, processes and oversight arrangements associated with the investment over time.”
A purpose-built NZICPA facility at Whanganui Airport officially opened in 2018.
Significant investments followed, including the purchase and refurbishment of 14 Hillside Tce (former Nazareth property) on St John’s Hill, the purchase of 125 Grey St (former St George’s School), and borrowing of up to $5m to buy aircraft.
Buildings at Grey St are now being deconstructed, with the property being rented to health provider Te Oranganui.
Two council loans of up to $150,000 each were approved in July 2021, while NZICPA waited for Government decisions on managed isolation and quarantine, and border settings during the pandemic.
The council approved working capital of up to $1.2m in June 2023 to support NZICPA “during the post-Covid restart”, the report said.
The same month, it approved borrowing of up to $10.329m, held via WDCHL, to pay for aircraft and facilities needed to deliver pilot training, including training for Indian airline IndiGo.
Both those packages were “used over time”.
The last two rounds of funding NZICPA received were in August and September last year.
The first ($1.2m) allowed the academy to meet short-term costs, with the second ($1.1m) allowing students to complete training until June 30, 2026.
Whanganui Mayor Andrew Tripe said the independent review would help make sure “lessons are learned”.
“What I can see, though, is that an attempt to stimulate local economic activity got battered by successive external headwinds, so we need to think about how we could have managed those differently and learn from that.”
The council said that at its peak, NZICPA contributed about $9.8 million a year to Whanganui’s GDP and supported the equivalent of about 96 fulltime jobs.
The estimated $11m net cost to the council from owning and supporting NZICPA over the past decade would “impact rates by less than 1% in 2026-27″, it said.
An extraordinary council-controlled organisations and economic growth committee meeting is at 9.30am today.
Mike Tweed is a 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.