British Airways is moving some ab initio pilot-training out of Australia and into the USA, while renewing contracts with two UK-based training colleges. The airline says that considerations were "overall cost-effectiveness, but also quality and reliability".
The US contract-winner is the Western Michigan University's new International Pilot Training Centre, while UK establishments Cabair College of Air Training and Oxford Air Training School won contract renewals. The Australian Aviation College, Adelaide, will not have its two-year contract renewed when the last of its BA students graduate, says the carrier. BA explains that it likes to monitor its own students' progress, and Australia's distance from UK has made that costly. UK-based colleges have higher fees, but lower monitoring and final-testing costs have enabled them to compete, BA says, revealing that failure rates are the lowest it has ever achieved.
Source: Flight International
