IASCO

Flight school on city radar; IASCO is pursuing permanent campus in Redding

IASCO, a flight school in Redding that trains pilots for four Chinese airlines wants to make the north state its permanent home.

IASCO Flight Training opened a temporary campus across from Redding Municipal Airport in February 2009.

But with the school's enrollment and workforce more than doubling since it opened two years ago, IASCO and the city are negotiating a deal that would build a permanent campus with dormitories.

Anne Marie Guay, IASCO's vice president and general manager would love to have the campus open two years from now.

Guay makes it clear that IASCO wants Redding to house its main campus — supplemented by satellite schools — but says the school needs new facilities and a long-term commitment from the city.

The Redding City Council approved a letter of intent with IASCO, which directed Redding Airports Manager Rod Dinger to explore and discuss the potential for a new campus, which Dinger said could cost up to $10 million.

IASCO's motivated to stay, and the city is motivated to keep them. They have been a shining star in an otherwise dark (economic) time.

IASCO expects to have 130 students by May 1 but has been approved for 150 by the Civil Aviation Authority of China, Guay said.

The school has gone from training for two airlines (Shanghai and Sichuan) to four, with the additions of Air China and Shandong airlines.

The Chinese students who come to Redding are between 20 and 27 years old and speak English. They are housed in two apartment complexes in town.

The economic impact from IASCO exceeds $12 million annually to the north state as the Chinese airlines pay IASCO about $82,000 per student.

The airport gets more than $56,000 annually from renting aircraft tie-down space to the school, and additional income from fuel fees.

IASCO's 58 employees make between $33,000 and $58,000 a year, Guay said, adding that the area's cost of living and mild climate make it easy to recruit people for teaching jobs. Most school employees are between 20 and 35 years old.

"Everybody I bring here who is new loves Redding," Guay said.

Guay envisions the new campus in Redding servicing airlines around the world, including the United States. Demand for pilots will grow as more reach retirement age and airlines expand.

Boeing, which drives the market because so many carriers use its planes, has a market outlook that suggests the need for more than 466,000 pilots and nearly 600,000 technicians worldwide during the next 20 years.