Air Gold Coast strikes deal to help address Japan’s pilot shortage

In a move set to thrust the Gold Coast’s burgeoning aviation training industry into the global spotlight, Air Gold Coast has brokered a deal to help address Japan’s pilot shortage.

“At the moment we do have an agreement to train some pilots for the low-cost carrier Peach Aviation, it is a subsidiary of All Nippon Airways (ANA) – Japan’s largest privately-owned airline,” says Air Gold Coast’s chief executive Peter Long.

“Currently in our trial we have two pilots, but we’re expecting to enrol more over the next few months.

Right now the program is in its infancy, but it will grow further. I think there’s the potential for us to train up to 20 pilots a year.”

While this enviable partnership is in its early stages, Mr Long is expecting another exciting announcement between March and May.

Air Gold Coast trains about 70 commercial and private students a year, and is the longest operating general aviation business located at the Gold Coast airport.

But it’s not just Japan facing a pilot shortage, the problem is worldwide, and Mr Long is behind a push to promote the Gold Coast as an education destination to flight training providers from a range of overseas countries.

“There is a global pilot shortage right now, especially in the Asia Pacific region, due in some part to the growth of low-cost carriers such as Peach,” says Mr Long.

“We’re well placed to help address this because Australia has always been recognised for the quality of its training courses and pilot licence; it is extremely well respected overseas.

“In addition, it’s very expensive to learn to fly overseas, in Japan it’s about double the cost of a commercial pilot’s licence in Australia; about $75,000."

“It’s also roughly about double the price to learn to fly in Singapore, Malaysia and China, but also their flying conditions aren’t ideal like they are here.

“In North Asia they have extreme weather, Malaysia is often plagued with smog and China is challenging because of smog and the military presence. As such people are looking at Australian or the US as prime training areas.

Mr Long says the Gold Coast is particularly attractive to internationals, even compared to places such as Sydney and Melbourne, because of its lifestyle and near-perfect flying conditions year round.

In addition to its enviable lifestyle and clear skies, Mr Long says the Gold Coast is also well placed geographically to help train pilots from across the globe.

“The city is now a direct flight or just one stop from some of the biggest countries in the world. There are other opportunities out there, there are other countries in demand of pilot training,” he says.

“That said, there is often a language barrier and you can’t just charge into China and take 100 students. They need to have a high level of English, so you have to be selective on the countries you’re attracting.”

Not surprisingly, Airways Aviation’s (AA) Gold Coast academy is also ramping up efforts to attract overseas students. Flight instructor Erol Sevim says he recently spent time abroad promoting aviation training courses offered.

“In southern parts of Australia you get a lot of bad weather because of the polar air masses from the South Pole, and in the far north you get a lot of unstable tropical weather.

The Gold Coast is situated favourably where we have blue skies almost all-year round – so for flight training it’s ideal,” he says.

“And with Boeing predicting that between now and 2036 the aviation industry will need 637,000 new commercial airline pilots; there is definitely an opportunity for the Gold Coast’s aviation training industry to help meet this demand.”