Qantas to employ 100 apprentices

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has announced that the company will employ an additional 100 engineering apprentices from February 2010.

“Our Engineering Apprentice Program develops the critical skills of our future engineers so they can maintain the Qantas fleet to the highest standard,” said Qantas CEO Alan Joyce.

“It is this ongoing investment in our people that underpins Qantas’s enviable record of flying safety.”

The apprentices will be employed at Qantas’s maintenance facilities in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and complements the announcement that A330 heavy maintenance will be conducted in Brisbane from next year. As a result, 92 per cent of its fleet maintenance will be carried out onshore.

Joyce noted that the Australian government has contributed $430,000 as part of its Commencement and Completion Craft Subsidy Payments and Mid Career Apprenticeship Payment Programs in support of the Qantas Engineering Apprentice Program.