PFS Set to Accept International Pilot Students

The surging growth of the worldwide aviation industry has caused a critical pilot shortage which has encouraged Pacific Flight Services to open its doors to international flight training students.

With the current strong growth in the aviation industry expected to continue for at least several years, the shortage worldwide of professional pilots is already seriously straining the capacity of airlines to crew their flights.

We learnt today that at least one airline is accepting new recruits up to age 55! The main thing the airline is looking for is ‘Attitude’. “If they’ve got that, sign them up!” was the company CEO’s directive.

To take advantage of this situation and help fill the pilot shortage, Pacific Flight Training, as rumored, is gearing up to accept full-time international students.

Pacific Flight Training is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Asian corporate giant, Singapore Technologies Aerospace.

Asked about the rumor, Pacific Flight Services’ Sydney Manager, Captain Rod Crane, said, “Well, learning in Australia certainly makes sense, especially in this climate of growth. We know that Australia, by every measure, is the best place in the world to learn to fly.

• The weather is better and more predictable than both the United States and Europe.
• The prices are lower.
• The skies are far less congested.
• The aviation environment is as sophisticated as any other top-level nation
• and our training standards are at least the equal of anywhere in the world.”

But when does Capt. Crane plan to open Pacific Flight Sevices (Sydney) to international students?

“I can’t confirm anything at this stage. What I can say is that we have investigated our potential market, especially in Asia and the Sub-continent. There were a lot of administrative hurdles we had to jump to satisfy the government agencies. We had to prove we have the infrastructure to train and manage professional pilots at international level. You can imagine there was quite a bit of thorough and meticulous work involved in that! Added to that, we needed to be confident ourselves that we could handle the large number of applicants the studies show we can expect to receive. 

“I’m happy to say that the authorising agencies have approved our credentials and we are now beginning the process of putting everything in place - things like student accommodation need to be finalised. We’ll definitely be accepting the first intake before too long. I can’t tell you exactly when, but within weeks. You’ll just have to keep your eye on our website, I guess!”