Wagga Wagga risks losing its new pilot training school if a Senate enquiry recommendation to introduce minimum pilot hours is adopted.

Pilots that graduate from the Regional Express (Rex) school can fly a commercial plane after 200 hours, compared with the 1,500 hour minimum being examined by the enquiry.

Rex managing director Jim Davis said his airline might as well recruit from the industry if extended flying hours were introduced.

He said tests had shown first year cadets reached the same standards of pilots with far more flying hours.

"Our experience has shown that the standard attained by the pilots that do come to us with many thousands of hours and the standard attained by the cadets is very similar," he said.

"In fact in the first year it's pretty close to the same.

"After that we actually start to see the cadets improve a bit so we just don't see the point in mandating those hours."