APECO SOARS HIGHER WITH ENTRY OF AVIATION SCHOOL

THE Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority (APECO) has welcomed its newest investor – the APG International Aviation Academy (APGIAA) – which is expanding its aviation school in the country.

With its inclusion of light, medium and selected industries as part of its investor targets, APECO taps aviation, a niche yet strong industry to be part of its growing list of diversified investor industries.

APGIAA is the third investor to put up a business in the sprawling 25-hectare expanse within the economic zone located in Casiguran, Aurora.

The first two were the Philippine Aerospace Development Corporation (PADC) and Amaris Energy.

APECO president and chief executive officer (CEO) attorney Gil Taway and APGIAA president and CEO Capt. Arnel Miguel formalized the agreement through a letter of cooperation (LoC) they signed Wednesday at the Luxent Hotel in Timog, Quezon City.

According to Taway, his team is ready and able to find the best way to integrate APGIAA’s business into their portfolio.

“We enter an exciting time where we find more and more industries are considering entering our ecozone. It is a welcome sight for us to witness the plans for APECO coming into fruition,” he stressed.

He added: “I want our message to be clear; APECO is primed for growth. APECO is the best location to build, to grow and to expand your business and we know there is a place for any company which shares our vision.”

According to Miguel, after the signing of LoC, he and school administrator Dominador Guillermo will immediately lead their team for a site inspection to the vast APECO land where the two-hectare aviation school project will be built.

In an interview, Miguel said that the flying school offers the same courses their other school in Subic provides with the same package of 45-hour completion requirement inside four to five months for P650,000.

He said that APGIAA is going to shell P20-25 million for the aircraft alone and another P20 for the hangar.

Since 1999, APGIAA has established itself as a leading school offering unique, low-cost, multi-disciplinary programs for success in the international aviation industry.

To date, it has successfully produced more than 3,000 graduates in the country, who have seen rapid success in their careers.

Taway said that while APECO has struggled to attract investors in recent years, it has become a welcome challenge to his team as it came up with revision and update of its master plan, the principal instrument which details the roadmap of the Freeport authority, with a goal of inviting more businessmen to come and invest.