Planes up for sale as trainee pilots lose fees

A fleet of planes used by Waterford’s Pilot Training College have been put up for sale, as the company tries to save a cash-strapped business which has left hundreds of families seriously out of pocket.

Due to PTC’s perilous financial situation, the Irish Aviation Authority yesterday called its senior management to a meeting and told them they were stripping it of its training accreditation. This means the total number of trainee pilots, who could face losing up to €85,000 each in fees paid to PCT, now stands at 210. They were obliged to pay course fees up front.

More than 180 of these trainees are currently based in Florida, while another 37 have completed the Florida leg of their training and are based out of Ireland. Some of those fees were paid by commercial airline companies.

The students in the US were trained at Florida Institute of Technology Aviation, but 11 days ago FIT refused to continue teaching PTC students, saying FIT is owed substantial sums by PTC for “room and board”. Meanwhile, PTC say the partnership broke down because FIT “failed to deliver contracts in a timely and professional manner”.

IAA has confirmed it will not pay for PTC students to complete their training elsewhere as it is not obliged to do so. However, IAA is working to find courses to which the trainees can transfer, and wants to ensure training to date is credited.

Last night, devastated parents spoke to the Irish Examiner of re-mortgaging homes and taking out massive credit union loans to fund their children’s flight training. Many said they cannot afford to finance another training course.

It also emerged that a fleet of planes owned by PTC’s sister company, Shemburn, and used by students has been put up for sale in the past six weeks. A second sister company also sold off planes recently.

IAA director of safety regulation Kevin Humphreys last night said the students were IAA’s primary concern. “But it looks like students may well now be facing a loss, which PTC informed us today it will endeavour to mitigate as part of a restructuring process.”

Yesterday, PTC’s legal advisers said the restructuring process could take 10 days to complete. However, this response was not good enough for IAA, which said the company did not have “sufficient resources in place to conduct training to the approved standards”.

Last night, Fianna Fáil senator Denis O’Donovan urged the Government to row in to ensure the trainees finish training they paid for.