The Indian airline has bounced back and is operating at 100 per cent capacity in India. It is likely to restart its cadet programme this year.
"We are optimistic that we are one of the providers that they want to turn back to," Rae said.
More than half of the IndiGo cadets who will arrive in April have already completed course work online. Others will start it now.
The school aimed to get students into the district safely, following government and health advice and protocols. It had consulted Whanganui District Health Board and key stakeholders including local iwi, Rae said.
"We have systems in place to enable us to meet all self-isolation requirements for our incoming cadets at our existing accommodation centre."
At present the students would have to self-isolate for 10 days and take three rapid antigen tests during that time. The isolation could happen at the 50-bed Hato Hohepa (formerly Nazareth Rest Home) or 70-bed College Estate (formerly the Collegiate Motor Inn).
The school's current students are at College Estate. They include a handful of internationals who have yet to return home, with the rest from New Zealand - including three from Whanganui.
Rae was unsure which facility the group of Indian cadets would use, or whether another may have to be found.
The school has 16 full-time equivalent staff. Ray Nelson is the acting chief executive.
There have been no redundancies since December 2020.
"All the way through the pandemic our strategy has been to keep the team together, so that when the rebound comes we can react fast. That strategy is now bearing fruit," Rae said.
Not much flying was happening at the moment, Rae said. The new intake of domestic students was mainly in the classroom.
On July 31 last year Whanganui District Council advanced the school $150,000 in an interest-free loan, to be paid back as and when possible. It advanced another $150,000 after a closed door meeting with then-NZICPA chief executive Phill Bedford and the chairman of WDCH.
A further $200,000 was provided by WDCH on the same terms.
Rae wouldn't say how much it cost to run the school for a month, because the information was commercially sensitive and the cost depended on the number of students.
Asked how much it had cost the council to set up the school, he said there was no simple answer.
The former St George's Preparatory School, bought by Whanganui Iwi and the council in 2019, was purchased for an advanced aviation hub potentially separate from the flight school.
Most of the flight school's assets - planes and accommodation facilities - were bought by WDCH and are leased by the school.
The school was back in growth mode now, Rae said. He was convinced it had a fantastic long-term future, bringing jobs, income and economic development for years to come.
He would like to broaden the international student intake beyond the Indian market.
"There are other attractive markets for us, especially in the Asia region. It's by far the fastest-growing region for aviation," he said.
