Source: Radio New Zealand
Kerikeri in the Bay of Islands was being considered for an aviation engineering school. (File photo) RNZ / Peter de Graaf
Air New Zealand is considering setting up an aviation engineering school in Kerikeri, Northland MP Grant McCallum says.
The MP said the company was working with high schools, local hapū Ngāti Rēhia, and aviation industry stakeholders to decide whether a vocational training school would work.
McCallum said it would be “a major shot in the arm for Northland” if it went ahead, and could help ease staff shortages in the country’s aviation sector.
He said the school would likely be built near Bay of Islands Airport, but details of the potential timeline or student numbers were not yet known.
Bay of Islands Airport in Kerikeri. (File photo) Supplied
“They want to take investment into the wider regions, rather than just the big centres. They feel there’s an opportunity to help Northland, particularly younger people who haven’t has got as many educational opportunities as people in other parts of the country.”
He said the feasibility study was considering student demand, delivery options, facilities, regulatory requirements and employment pathways.
It would go ahead only if a viable, sustainable and appropriately governed model could be found, McCallum said.
Northland MP Grant McCallum. (File photo) RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Air New Zealand chief executive Nikhil Ravishankar was in Kerikeri on Sunday to discuss the proposal.
The proposal comes amid a major shakeup of vocational training in Northland.
NorthTec, the region’s biggest training provider, had been cutting jobs and courses as it tried to become financially viable.
NorthTec is the region’s biggest training provider. (File photo) RNZ / Peter de Graaf
Last week the government announced funding of $34.7 million to help NorthTec move from its present Raumanga campus to a proposed Whangārei Knowledge Education and Arts Hub in the central city, subject to a successful business case.
Last year Northland’s biggest hospitality training provider, QRC Te Tai Tokerau, shut down in Paihia after a decade of operation.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
