Coronavirus: Wind beneath student pilot’s wings

Despite COVID, Sydney Airport is sticking with its $14m promise to fund the studies of one aviation student a year for the next century.

Manmeet Kaur with Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert. Picture: Jane Dempster

With passenger numbers plummeting and revenue evaporating, Sydney Airport’s $14m commitment to fund the studies of an ­aviation student every year for the next century could well have become one of the first victims of the COVID-19 crisis.

But airport chief executive Geoff Culbert has stuck to his guns, saying the scholarships are vital to the local industry

“Sydney Airport has been at the core of Australia’s aviation story for more than 100 years, and through that time we’ve seen it all — economic shocks, world wars, and now a pandemic,” Mr Culbert said.

“We have emerged stronger through every challenge, and that goes to the heart of what the SYD100 scholarship is all about — creating an even str­onger aviation industry over the next century.”

Preference for the scholarships, which are worth $35,000 per student a year, is given to educationally disadvantaged students and those who are under-represented in the aviation industry, including women and Indigenous people.

Head of UNSW Aviation Professor Gabriel Lodewijks said it was an enormous commitment by Sydney Airport at an incredibly difficult time for the industry.

“I think the fact that they are going ahead and for that period of 100 years — it’s a real vote of confidence in aviation,” Professor Lodewijks said.

“It will take time (to recover) and it may be slightly different, but we will be back and it’s great this program starts right now.”

The first scholarship has been awarded to 19-year-old Manmeet Kaur, a budding pilot and aviation management student at the University of NSW.

Ms Kaur said the funding assistance meant she could live on campus at UNSW instead of making the two-hour commute to and from Penrith each day.

“It’s going to increase the quality of my education and help me focus, plus I get the whole ­university experience,” she said.

Recent shocks to the aviation industry and the global economy as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, had generated much concern for students embarking on aviation-related courses,” Ms Kaur said.

“But we have been learning that the aviation industry is very flexible. It does come back, so hopefully by at least 2022 we are back properly and flying again.”