Paul Phelan/CAIRNS
It was clearly strategic planning and global thinking, rather than short-term opportunism in the volatile pilot-training market, which recently impelled British Aerospace to boost its investment in Australian-based pilot-training schools. The training needs of the Asia-Pacific region, despite the recent economic downturn, are considerable, and Australian schools are well placed to compete in the marketplace there.
A measure of BAe's long-term commitment to the region is that, although its accounts for the last financial year showed that it had written off a $28 million loan to provide the Australian Air Academy (AAA) at Tamworth with a fresh start on a viable footing, the company has since reinforced its Australian involvement with the acquisition of the Adelaide-based Australian Aviation College (AAC) (Flight International, 12-18 June, 1996). That move has now given British Aerospace Flight Training Australia (BAFTA) a formidable presence in an assured regional market.
This is despite British Airways' recent decision not to renew its contract with the Adelaide college for some of its ab initio pilot training . The airline says that this is because the huge geographical separation of BA's UK base from its students makes it difficult to monitor individual progress. The decision tends to confirm the Australian schools' natural marketplace as Australasia and the Asia-Pacific region.
Brian Parsons, director of the Tamworth school, says: "We now have a strategy. First, we want to build long-term relationships with airlines. Second, we're looking closely at the military training sector and, third, there is considerable business in university and self-sponsored students." He adds that BAe is prepared to undertake "-whatever financial restructuring is necessary" to make the business viable, but in turn it must show that it can capture the business. "We're moving quickly towards that, with current orders covering 80% of the coming year's business, and we expect the college soon to be running close to maximum capacity. More than 75% of our training is now repeat business, and over 60% of our airline customers have been doing business with us for three years or more," he says.
ANSETT PARTNERSHIP
Originally established in partnership between Ansett Australia (when Sir Peter Abeles was its chief executive) and BAe, the Tamworth, New South Wales, school was founded on criteria unlikely to be reproduced in today's competitive market and with its associated cost restraints. Although Abeles chose the Tamworth location in part as a political manoeuvre, the choice has since proved sound, having enabled the school to be designed as a complete, integrated university-style unit on relatively cheap unoccupied airport and adjacent land. It takes advantage of the inland region's good average climate, a controlled airport with all radio-navigation aids and a low air-traffic volume which minimises disruption to training.
Abeles' plan was to establish self-sponsored cadet pilot training for the Ansett group, to sell individually funded and airline-sponsored training to other users and to seek military training contracts. The college was to be Ansett's preferred source of cadet pilots, and revenue from cadets was expected to make the plan self-funding. With a Level C Boeing 737 simulator for jet familiarisation, cadets could graduate with a jet type-rating after completing training at Ansett's simulator centre.
Almost from the beginning, however, variance between the goals and strategies of Ansett and BAe made life increasingly difficult for the management at planning and operational level. Growth was slow, with the academy showing large losses on Ansett's accounts.
Nevertheless, the academy has steadily increased its business volume and market share since BAFTA appointed Parsons, and has further consolidated since Harry Bradford, the former chief executive of AAC (then owned by BTR), switched to BAe to head its Warton, UK-based British Aerospace Training Services division, the global training organisation which is now the parent company of both colleges. By the time BAe made the take-over decision, AAC estimated its forward orders for training at two to 2.5 times those held by the Adelaide college at that time. The group will now rename its total Australian organisation BAFTA, and the AAA and AAC acronyms will be replaced by Tamworth and Adelaide identifiers.
BAe's decision to take an initial 50% stake in the business was, in retrospect, probably also a long-term strategic one, since most industry observers predicted even then that Ansett would be compelled by the fall-out from some of Abeles' other business decisions to shrink its non-core activities.
In late 1991, the newly completed college began accepting "preferred" Ansett cadets, who (although self-funded) underwent the Ansett selection process before acceptance, and were guaranteed a subsequent flying job with Ansett or one of its regional-airline subsidiaries, subject to graduation. At the same time, the college marketed itself extensively to airlines in the region, and to the military. Japan Airlines-owned domestic carrier ANK was the academy's launch customer and, almost from inception, Tamworth has held a contract for Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) flight screening.
DEFENCE CONTRACT
Before BAFTA's acquisition of AAC, the Tamworth and Adelaide colleges had been shortlisted, along with Bombardier Defence Services Australia and Australian defence-support contractor Airfreight, for a major new Australian Defence Force (ADF) pilot-training contract. The successful bidder, to be named in May, will conduct flight-screening of up to 220 candidates annually for all three services, and basic flying training for up to 160 recruits, in a contract which could provide more than 20,000h of aircraft utilisation annually. Parsons is confident that BAFTA is well positioned for what would be Australia's biggest-ever flight-training contract:
"Flight screening would involve15h each for up to about 236 candidates for the three services," says Parsons. "For basic flight training, the numbers could be up to about 120 entrants per year. If all elements are taken up, the ten-year contract will be worth around A$100 million [$65 million] at 1998 prices." An additional contract is also likely to be attached for training RAAF Central Flying School flight-instructor courses on the basic flight-training aircraft. BAFTA is also discussing flight screening and basic training contracts with possible Asian military customers, which are showing "medium to high" interest,Parsons adds. Tamworth, he says, provides a structured and disciplined environment, intended to harmonise with the needs of its military, as well as civil, customers.
BAFTA Tamworth is conducting basic flying training for 24 Australian Army pilots (with another two on attachment from Malaysia) and Army flight screening. The college accommodates an ADF detachment to conduct its own checking, and ADF instructors who are suitably qualified work as seconded instructors within the college. "We don't get involved in failing ADF students; they do the testing. That would be a model for the contract, which would obviously be on a larger scale," says Parsons.
Present cadet courses include 16 students each for Malaysian Airlines and Vietnam Airlines, seven for Japanese domestic carrier ANK, 15 for Air China, 12 for National Taiwan University and 20 self-sponsored students in two courses. The last Ansett course ended recently, and the graduates are being taken on as second officers on the carrier's Boeing 747 and 767 fleet for long-haul augmented-crew operations. Having met that requirement from available graduates, Ansett, which has a slight current-pilot surplus, has no immediate plans to re-introduce cadet training.
A feature of BAe's strategy yet to be implemented is a combined course for airline cadets, in which the basic training phase would take advantage of Australia's benign climate and uncluttered air traffic, after which advanced trainees would be moved to Prestwick where training would be completed in a more complex air-traffic-control environment and in a fickle climate. That scheme has not yet been marketed and does not have a launch customer, but has attracted interest from places such as Hong Kong, because graduates would have UK licences, says Parsons. "We are working very closely with the other flight-training organisations within BAe. We had a strategies session in October in UK for the first time, and we've been working with Prestwick in all areas," he adds.
AUSTRALIAN CULTURE
The college is residential, but, by arrangement with the Tamworth community, each overseas student is "adopted" by a local family, which helps them make local friends to overcome homesickness problems, experience Australian culture and improve their English.
"Course size is normally 12-16, which we and our client airlines think is a good teaching size," says Parsons. "Although we sometimes have groups of 24 or so trainees, the client airlines have accepted that this is too large a class size, so we split it to 12/12 or 12/14."
A computerised student-response system takes account of cultural and language sensitivities: an instructor poses a multi-choice question and each individual student keys in the answers on a private console, explains Parsons. "There's no loss of face. Using this system, only the student and the instructor are aware of any learning difficulties, and the student can receive feedback privately. The results are also linked to a database, so we can follow up deficiencies and track improvements."
The Asia-Pacific economic downturn may eventually have its affect, but Tamworth has not felt the draught yet.
Source: Flight International
