A new flight simulator at Tauranga based Bay Flight Aviation is predicted to attract more high paying international students who each pump over $100,000 into the local economy.

Bay Flight Aviation CEO Laurence Barnett says the $140,000 full motion flight training simulator, called the Redbird, is only the second one in New Zealand.

There are 25 international students currently enrolled at the school, based at Tauranga Airport.

The majority of those are attending the school because they want to use the state of the art simulator.

Laurence says international students want to use it because it lowers costs by speeding up the training process, gives them more confidence and provides them with more experience on the world stage.

International students can pay up to $90,000 to attend Bay Flight Aviation and contribute an extra $25,000 into the local economy.

It took between six and nine months to build Redbird, which is made in Austin, Texas in the US.

The Civil Aviation Authority will spend the next three days inspecting the new simulator.

It will need to be approved by CAA officials before students can use it.