Last lot of future ADF pilots soar out of Tamworth

The flight school has trained future pilots at the airport precinct for more than two decades, but is winding down its operations as it prepares to relocate to Sale in Victoria.

A BAE spokesperson said it was a "proud day" to see the final ADF training students graduated from Flight Training Tamworth.

"Since 1993, a total of 2157 ADF students have graduated and in that time Flight Training Tamworth has completed more than 280,000 flight hours with an exemplary air safety record," they said.

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BAE will still train students from the Republic of Singapore Air Force until June 30, 2020.

Tamworth mayor Col Murray said the training company had been "outstanding corporate citizens".

"From a safety point of view, they've pretty much been incident free despite hundreds of thousands of hours in the air," Cr Murray said.

"There's been no loss of life, no on-ground incidents. It really is an exceptional safety record. They've been able to bring students from all over Australia, and a small number internationally, without incident."

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Cr Murray said BAE was one of a small number of businesses to make a "really big impact" on the regional economy.

"They did they're due diligence all those years ago - and it's no surprise given the facilities here and Tamworth's natural geographic attributes," Cr Murray said.

"But once they made their decision, it was a good signal to other businesses.

"They really paved the way for [new airport tenants] CAE Oxford and Virgin Australia."

Council is in the final stages of negotiating a deal with Virgin, after the airline's $30-million flight school at Tamworth was given the tick of approval by the Foreign Investment Review Board.