The International Aviation Academy Norwich opened in a former 1930s hangar, close to Norwich Airport - amid much optimism - in 2017.

Owned by Norse Group - a company which belongs to Norfolk County Council - City College Norwich and KLM provide aviation industry training in the centre.

But senior Norse officials have revealed the centre is losing the company between £300,000 to £500,000 every year.

And Norse has written down the centre's value - an accountancy term which reflects an asset's declining worth - by £7.5m.

'A great idea... 10 to 15 years ago'

The situation was discussed at a meeting of Norfolk County Council's cross-party scrutiny committee, where councillors quizzed Dr Andy Wood, Norse Group's chairman.

Dr Andy Wood (Image: Submitted)

He said: "The Aviation Academy has been incurring losses for many years.

"It was a great idea 10 to 15 years ago, but never really fulfilled its promise and that is costing Norse between £300,000 to £500,000 a year. It has had to write that down by £7.5m."

The centre features an ‘emulation zone’, containing a redundant Boeing 737 for practical training, and a ‘study zone’ for more traditional classroom and research study.

Carol Vorderman opened the International Aviation Academy in 2017 (Image: Denise........

© Norwich Evening News