Australian flying training company Australia Asia Flight Training (AAFT) is establishing a second Australian Wings Academy (AWA) flight school in the country in the first stage in an expansion plan that could see schools opened overseas.
The new school will be based at New South Wales' Gunnedah airport and will be an extension of AWA's facility at Coolangatta on Australia's Gold Coast that was opened in 2006. The two schools will form the nucleus of a longer-term plan to develop satellite flight training schools in the Middle East and India, says Neil Hansford, AAFT managing director, and former managing director of now defunct UK carriers British World Airlines and Euro Direct Airlines.
Hansford was also formerly managing director of TNT International Aviation Services Europe. AAFT also involves former Qantas chief financial officer Graham Jones and Kingsley Mundey, formerly group general manager of Australia's largest express freight company Comet Express and Ansett general manager freight.
The A$20 million ($19 million) school at Gunnedah is expected to open in July/August 2009 and will initially cater for 200 students on an inclusive campus to be constructed at the airport, which will include classrooms, flight briefing and planning areas, and three flight simulator bays. The school plans to operate a fleet of more than 30 training aircraft, with negotiations under way with Cirrus Aircraft and Diamond Aircraft.
At Coolangatta the AWA operates 22 aircraft, including Diamond DA-40s, Cessna 172RGs and DA-42s on order. As well as providing training for self-funded students, from Australia, Asia-Pacific, India and the Middle East, Hansford says AAFT is in negotiations with airlines on providing training at the new facility.
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Gunnedah was selected for the new school after an earlier deal with NSW's Goulburn airport fell through, says Hansford. The arrangement with Gunnedah will provide AAFT with a 30-year lease arrangement, part purchase and operational control of the airport.
Source: Flight International
