Rex training pilots for Chinese airlines despite not having enough for its own operations

The company has restarted pilot training for Chinese airlines, despite not being able to find enough people to fly its own regional services.

Rex Airlines has restarted training for Chinese airlines at its Australian Airline Pilot Academy in Ballarat, even as it struggles to find pilots for its own operations.

The intake of 30 Chinese cadets is the first since Covid restrictions ended and will see the students graduate with a commercial pilot licence, multi-engine instrument rating and high performance aircraft training.

Australian Airline Pilot Academy Victoria managing director Chris Hine said the restart of Chinese cadet training was a “ringing endorsement of the quality and professionalism of Rex’s pilot academy”.

“During Covid we continued the training of 56 Chinese cadets and successfully graduated them without a single one having caught Covid,” said Mr Hine.

China had approved the AAPAV to train up to 168 cadets a year for Chinese airlines, with each program lasting 15-months.

As well as China, Vietnam, Singapore, the Gulf states and Australia had approved Rex’s pilot academies for training.

A second site at Wagga Wagga was training 10 cadet pilots for Rex with another 12 due to start next month.

The airline has struggled to find enough pilots to operate its fleet of Saab 340s with a third of the aircraft out of action due to the shortage.

Of the 57 Saab 340s in the Rex fleet, 38 were in action and 19 parked at Wagga Wagga and Adelaide.

Rex also operated eight Boeing 737s, seven of which were currently flying on major city routes such as Sydney-Melbourne and Brisbane-Sydney. A ninth jet was due to arrive in September.

The airline, led by chairman Lim Kim Hai and deputy chairman John Sharp, updated its guidance in June with the expectation of another loss in the 2023 financial year.

The expected operational loss of $35m was blamed on the global shortage of pilots and engineers along with supply chain shocks, that had forced Rex to make a significant reduction to its flight schedules.

Routes affected included those to some of the most remote parts of Queensland as well as in NSW, Victoria and South Australia.

Since the cuts came into effect on May 1, there has been no further update on when flights would be restored.