Qantas has opened a new pilot training facility at Brisbane Airport on Monday. Four state-of-the-art aircraft simulators and a flight training device will provide pilots with simulator training and specialized training for four aircraft types.
Aircraft simulators move north from Sydney
Traditionally, Qantas has housed its aircraft simulators in Sydney and Melbourne. But major roadworks around Sydney Airport meant the airline needed to relocate its Sydney flight training center.
With Qantas having already sold off surplus land around Sydney Airport and any remaining spare patches of unclaimed dirt at a premium, relocating its aircraft simulators to more spacious airports made sense.
While Qantas plans a new flight training center in Sydney, the aircraft simulators have gone to an existing training facility in Melbourne and the new facility in Brisbane.
Qantas has more than 500 pilots based in Queensland. Now, they will have easy access to Boeing 737, 767F, 787 Dreamliner, and Dash-8 Q400 simulators, as well as a Q400 flight training device, in Brisbane.
Queensland Government opens the checkbook to snag the new training facility
The Queensland Government provided Qantas with an undisclosed amount of financial assistance to establish the Brisbane training center.
“We were in a competitive race with other jurisdictions,” said the Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick on Monday.
“This suite of flight training simulators reinforces Queensland’s pre-eminence as a destination of choice for the aerospace and aviation support industries,” the Treasurer added.
“Training is a critical part of our business, and the new Brisbane simulator facility will play a key role in helping us to maintain the highest standards of pilot skill and experience,” said CEO Alan Joyce during his first visit to Brisbane in two years on Monday
“Qantas’ very first flying school was set up in 1927 in a tin shed at Eagle Farm (in Brisbane), so we’ve clearly come a long way since then.
“Having simulators based in Brisbane is great news for our Queensland-based pilots and is a clear vote of confidence in the long-term future of aviation in this country despite the challenges we’ve faced recently.”
New facility nicely complements Toowoomba’s pilot academy
The Brisbane training facility can train up to 900 pilots a year. All Qantas pilots have pilots to complete four annual sessions of simulator training. The facility will also be open to other airlines in the Asia-Pacific region. That will allow those airlines to train newly recruited pilots, upskill pilots to new aircraft types, and let experienced pilots maintain their ongoing training.
That will benefit many small regional flag carriers which buzz around the Asia-Pacific region with only a handful of planes and generally without expensive in-house training facilities like simulators.
The Brisbane training facility also complements the recently opened pilot academy in nearby Toowoomba. The academy can train up to 250 pilots each year to build a long-term talent pipeline for Qantas, Jetstar, and QantasLink. Plans to open another pilot academy in the mid-north Queensland city of Mackay appear to be on pause.
However, the Toowoomba pilots in training will now complete their simulator sessions in Brisbane rather than traveling to Sydney or Melbourne to do so.
Meanwhile, media quizzed Mr Joyce on Monday about when Qantas planned to resume international flights in and out of Brisbane. Queensland now allows eligible fully vaccinated travelers to fly in and bypass quarantine.
Mr Joyce says he has flights to and from Brisbane ready to go as soon as all fully vaccinated travelers can freely jet in from overseas.
“We have a schedule in Queensland to start back flying to destinations like Los Angeles, Singapore, and Tokyo. Hopefully, it is before Easter,” said the Qantas boss. “We are at a disadvantage here – a lot of other countries are now opening up.”
