Notes Graduation Of Most Recent Group Of Pilot Candidates

The Australian Airline Pilot Academy (AAPA), a wholly owned subsidiary of Regional Express (Rex) based in Wagga Wagga NSW, commemorated its 10 year anniversary yesterday with a special ceremony to coincide with the graduation of the 21st cohort of Rex Cadet Pilots and a Vietnamese cadet, destined for Vietnam Airlines.

The Ceremony was officiated by Guest of Honour, the Hon. Peter Dutton MP, Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, and attended by other distinguished guests from the aviation and local community.

Rex began the unique Rex Pilot Cadet Program in December 2007 in an endeavour to combat a world-wide pilot shortage. Rex is the only Australian carrier to have invested in such a program and provide a meaningful contribution to solving the pilot shortage which is yet again gripping the aviation industry. The carrier has has invested over $32 million in its Pilot Academy, making it a world class training facility within the Asia Pacific region, equipped with state of the art facilities, including a fleet of 20 training aircraft, modern flight simulators, including a SAAB 340 Full Motion Simulator, which was opened in 2014 and an Instrument Landing System (ILS) equipped runway which was commissioned in 2010.

AAPA provides its cadets individual accommodation, fully catered dining and a gymnasium amongst other social and recreational facilities for complete and integrated live-in training. AAPA is approved as a Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS), and is an Approved Training Organization (ATO) by the General Civil Aviation Authority of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam and an approved Supplier to Vietnam Airlines, with the first 8 Vietnamese cadets graduating in May 2017.

The Rex 021 graduates have completed an intensive training program, from ab-initio, to graduating with an Australian Commercial Pilots Licence and Multi Engine Command Instrument Rating issued by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA). Since 2007, over 200 Rex Cadets have graduated from AAPA, and subsequently transitioned into Rex and its subsidiaries in the rank of First Officer.

“Yesterday was a particularly special day for us. We are very proud of and congratulate the graduates, but we also reflected on and celebrated 10 years of AAPA, and the highly successful and crucial Rex Cadet Pilot Program," said Chris Hine, the Chairman of AAPA. "AAPA is a world class facility providing the highest quality of standards and disciplines in pilot training and thanks to the dedicated and tireless work of all our staff we have graduated cadet pilots that now make up 79% of Rex’s First Officers and 30% of Rex’s Captains as well as many pilots for major airlines around the world.”

The aviation industry is again facing a serious pilot shortage and Rex is the only carrier that is investing money to alleviate the
situation," Hine said.

(Images provided with Rex news release)

FMI: www.rex.com.au