JAKARTA. Indonesia and New Zealand have partnered up to improve flight training through a deal signed on Monday during the visit of Prime Minister John Key to Jakarta aimed at boosting trade relations.

The program will provide advanced training to smooth the path between the end of pilot training courses and taking up positions, Ardmore Flying School CEO Mike Newman said regarding the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with Batam-based FlyBest Flight Academy on fixed-wing flight training.

"What we find happens is often students are only buying the minimum training course that gets them past the legal requirement, and there tends to be an enormous gap between that training program and what the industry is looking for in terms of giving employment outcomes," Newman said. The partnership looks to give several hundred pilots high-standard skills in the 18-month long professional course, he added.

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The Indonesian academy is planning to cooperate with its New Zealand counterpart on redesigning the training course by also improving student resources, including providing quality instructors, FlyBest Flight Academy CEO Karin Item said.  

"What's interesting is that New Zealand has something we don't have in our program here, which is special training for mountainous areas," Karin said.  

She said the course could possibility be designed to be partly carried out in New Zealand, adding that scholarships would hopefully be available in the future. The details of the partnership are still being discussed, Karin continued, unable as yet to provide the monetary value of the deal.

At its current rate, the Indonesian academy produces 30 pilots per year, she said, but the number could be increased through the cooperation. Karin said some graduates of the school have gone on to work in AirAsia Indonesia, adding that internationally recognized skills gained through the renewed program would increase the graduates competitiveness even more.

According to Boeing, from 2014 to 2034, Indonesia will require an average 900 pilots per year, with only 400 graduates from the current aviation schools. (Liza Yosephine)