Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Phil Sweeney, CEO of Australian Wings Academy (AWA). I have been following with great interest the threads which have been posted onto PPrune regarding this Academy, and have been both surprised and disappointed at some of the alleged comments being made.
It is clearly evident that through a general lack of understanding or appreciation for the complexities and workings of our operation, certain understandable yet inaccurate assumptions have been reached, and whilst I fully appreciate that current and past students have the right, and may even have justifiable reason to air their views on this forum, I would like to extend as always, an invitation to those students to address their concerns, suggestions and/or ideas for improvement via my personal email address which follows, and I welcome the opportunity to discuss with them, the issues that have caused such vitriol.
Anyone who knows me will acknowledge my ‘open door’ policy at AWA. It remains open, and continues to provide an opportunity for students to air their grievances, or offer constructive criticism to me personally, or to other members of our management team. It is therefore understandably disappointing to discover that a small number of clearly aggrieved students have chosen to overlook such an opportunity, but instead feel inclined to broadcast their own anonymous, misguided opinions over the internet.
It would appear that the principle protest is over the handling of our finance policy. For clarity, yes, we do operate a very strict finance policy. This is entirely as a result of our being too lenient and trusting with students in times gone by. Regrettably, and as usual, the few have spoilt it for the many. There have been many instances in our history where AWA has agreed to provide significant extended credit, or physically loaned considerable sums of money to students to assist them in the completion of their studies, and despite repeated promises of repayment, nothing as a consequence has or will be forthcoming. Our commercial and common sense decision to remain solvent to cater for current and future students of AWA, completely dictates the present finance policy in operation.
I would like to think that my email inbox will soon include mail from the aggrieved parties in question so that we can enter into, and address any matters that have arisen within this forum. The absence of any such mail will only lead me to assume that the comments being made have no foundation or substance.
I look forward to hearing from you.
[email protected] Regards,
Phil Sweeney
CEO, AWA.