Qantas flight school

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In February, Qantas announced plans to spend $20 million establish a new pilot training academy at an existing airfield in regional Australia with the capacity to train up to 500 pilots a year. The school is scheduled to open its doors in 2019 and would be initially for direct entry cadets joining the Qantas Group, including Jetstar and QantasLink.

The academy would initially train about 100 pilots a year. However, looking further ahead, the company has previously indicated this could grow to 500 pilots a year on a fee for service basis depending on demand from other parts of the industry. 

C4W provided a letter of support for the submission by WWCC. Wagga Wagga is on shortlist of 9 sites Australia wide (from an original list of 60 submissions). The sites are:-

  • Alice Springs, Northern Territory

  • Bendigo, Victoria

  • Busselton, Western Australia

  • Dubbo, New South Wales

  • Launceston, Tasmania

  • Mackay, Queensland

  • Tamworth, New South Wales

  • Toowoomba, Queensland

  • Wagga Wagga, New South Wales

WWCC, in conjunction with CSU, delivered their bid to Qantas this week, with the outcome expected to be known at the end of July. We believe Wagga Wagga has all that is needed to deliver Qantas a first-rate training academy.

NewsCristy Houghton