The 2016-2017 national budget had allocated $1m for the establishment of a flight simulator school which has now turned into a reality.

The 2016-2017 national budget had allocated $1m for the establishment of a flight simulator school which has now turned into a reality.

This was highlighted by Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum who highlighted that despite the criticism, Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama was committed to getting the aviation academy up and running.

“And I think notwithstanding the sort of criticism I remembered we copped at that time when presenting the budget, the fact that the honourable Prime Minister agreed to this and agreed that we need to get this done has meant that we have actually got that done today, so that level of commitment is always very important.”

The Minister for Economy says in order to deal with critics, crises or to have economic vision the government needs to stick to a game plan.

Sayed-Khaiyum says the ripple effects of an aviation academy will benefit Fiji now and in the future.

“When we used to send pilots to Singapore, a hotel room rate was about $600-$700 depending on the time of the year that pay a single night Singapore dollars. Now if you have a pilot coming from USA they may pay $300 Fijian in a hotel which means our hotels will be filled. The location of this academy is across restaurants, hotels and other amenities that Fijians own who will also benefit from this.”

Sayed-Khaiyum also says a number of airlines around the world had direct taxpayer-funded bailouts to keep their staff on board, but the Fijian government instead provided guarantees to Fiji Airways.