COMBINED PILOT DEGREE LAUNCHED
Programme includes business management element to offer students chance ‘to explore other directions’
The city’s first applied science university will launch a new degree programme for aspiring fliers in September, with the course offering a commercial pilot licence for the cost of HK$1 million in tuition fees.
The new qualification from the Hong Kong Metropolitan University and the Airport Authority’s International Aviation Academy is part of a business administration bachelor’s degree in aviation services management, to speed up pilot recruitment.
University president Paul Lam Kwan-sing said yesterday that the four-year programme gave students the chance to earn two qualifications, saving candidates HK$60,000 compared with pursuing their pilot training separately.
“The aim is to provide students with an additional choice,” he said. “Perhaps after several years as a pilot, some individuals may desire to explore other directions.”
“By undertaking business management courses [in their initial years], they can leverage their work experience and seek new directions for personal growth and development.”
The joint programme will roll out in the 2024-25 academic year. Students will have the option to pursue cadet pilot training in their third year’s summer semester.
The first batch of students for the joint programme are expected to commence pilot training in May 2025.
The four-year course charges an annual tuition fee of HK$95,000, while students on an income-based government subsidy will pay HK$59,740 per year.
Students opting for cadet pilot courses in their third year must pay an additional tuition fee of HK$740,000, which is HK$60,000 less than the academy’s own programme that launched last November.
The academy’s programme spans 14 months and includes six months of study in the city, followed by another eight months of flight practice in the United States. Students must undergo a minimum of 142 hours of flight training.
The course also offers preliminary interviews for trainees with the academy’s four partnered airlines – Hong Kong Airlines, HK Express, Greater Bay Airlines and Hong Kong Air Cargo – to help students secure conditional job offers.
Cadets must also take a twoweek multi-crew cooperation course before they can earn a Hong Kong Commercial Pilot Licence with Instrument Rating (Airplane).
The course received more than 100 applications since the selection process started last September and accepted 31 cadets in two classes. The next class of 20 is expected to start in May.
The academy aims to foster 100 local cadets each year.
In Britain, the L3 Harris Academy’s course to secure a UK and EU commercial pilot licence costs £106,560 (HK$1.05 million).
Academy president Simon Li Tin-chu said the tuition fees posed a challenge for aspiring pilots, but support from two banks and a finance company meant applicants could take out loans with favourable rates.
“Depending on the students’ creditworthiness, the loan schemes may provide a loan of 70 per cent to the full tuition fees, ensuring that students from different backgrounds have the opportunity to pursue this course,” he said.
Li said the joint programme with the university sought to cultivate more local talent and welcomed candidates from the mainland and overseas.
The academy had sufficient resources to fully accommodate students from the joint programme and its own one if the yearly intake for both remained at 100 each, he added.