Crowded field

‘More than 12,500 prospective candidates have registered their interest.’

“We hope to be able to train up to 500 students each year once the Academy is fully established, including training pilots for other airlines, creating the largest flight training school in the Southern Hemisphere. It makes sense to base the academy at a regional centre, because of the easy access to uncongested air space. Representatives from all levels of Government have already expressed their interest for their region to be home to the academy.”

Indeed Qantas says more than 40 regional councils have now put their hands up to be the site of the new academy. On May 11, the airline said it would begin accepting submissions from regional cities and local and state governments keen to have the academy located in their part of the world.
It promises to be a crowded field.

‘More than 40 regional councils have now put their hands up.’

Since February’s announcement, scores of regional councils have been eager to talk up their credentials for hosting such a facility.

In February, Tamworth mayor Col Murray told the Northern Daily Leader the city’s airport would be an ideal location for the proposed Qantas academy.

“We’ll probably be one of the front runners in the considerations,” Cr Murray told the newspaper.

“We’ve got some great attributes going for us – parallel runways, top-of-line landing instrument system, abundant airspace and development approval to extend the accommodation at the existing training facility. It would be sensational for us to get this and we’ve already begun lobbying for it.”

CAE Oxford Aviation Academy conducts commercial pilot training in Tamworth, having leased part of BAE Systems Australia’s facilities in November 2017.

BAE Systems has operated the ADF’s Basic Flying Training School (BFTS) at Tamworth since 1999. However under Project AIR 5428 initial pilot training for all three arms of the Defence Force is being relocated to RAAF Base East Sale.

Meanwhile, there is also interest north of the Tweed, with Mackay saying in February it too planned to bid for the pilot training academy.
Mackay Airport general manager Rob Porter told the Daily Mercury the airport’s owner North Queensland Airports had given the green light to try to land the project.

“Mackay boasts a first class university in CQU, there’s a good range of accommodation and hospitality providers and the airport offers a blend of up to date facilities and uncongested airspace,” Porter told the newspaper. “As well as all that Mackay is, as we all know, a great place to live.”

“We are buying into the process, the bidding process. We will map out a plan and put together our pitch to go in front of Qantas.”

There have also been public comments from various councils across all states and territories, such as Albury, Armidale, Bathurst, Dubbo and Wagga Wagga in New South Wales, Cairns and Rockhampton in Queensland, as well as sites in South Australia, the Northern Territory, Victoria and Western Australia.

Qantas Group Pilot Academy executive manager Wes Nobelius said there had already been some “very positive discussions” with governments and state leaders.

“We’re really pleased with the response we’ve had from local communities,” Nobelius said on May 11.

“More than 40 regional cities have indicated they’ll be making a bid to be home to the Academy. We’ve even had one council posting a video on social media featuring its residents and all the city has to offer.

“The process will be very competitive and although there can only be one academy, we’re encouraging every region to put their best case forward.”
The closing date for submissions is June 8, Qantas said. A shortlist will be made public before the site of the proposed pilot training academy is announced in the third quarter of calendar 2018.

Qantas said the candidates would be assessed on five main criteria:
Airport infrastructure – asphalt runway and taxiways with minimum runway length of 1,300m, capability of full lighting for night and reduced-visibility operations and fuel tanker refuelling. Hangars and covered facilities to accommodate maintenance and parking for up to 30 aircraft with the ability to grow to more than 50 aircraft.

Environment – weather conditions to allow for a minimum of 300 days per year suitable for flying, based on historical averages.

Airspace – access to a mix of controlled and uncontrolled airspace. An airport with a control tower is preferred.

Teaching facilities – high-tech student classrooms and space for large group briefings, full wi-fi and IT capability, and facilities to accommodate flight training simulators.

Student accommodation – contemporary private rooms, communal lounge areas and cafeteria to create a supportive learning environment, visitor accommodation, access to medical facilities and public transport.

Qantas said the academy was expected to employ 40 people in training and support roles.

What has also become clear is that the academy – the initial investment will be $20 million – is almost certain to become a good source of income for Qantas. Joyce has pointed to Boeing estimates that the world will need about 640,000 more pilots in the next 20 years, with 40 per cent of the demand in the Asia Pacific. With Australia already highly regarded in the training arena because of its abundance of open skies, once established and grown over the medium to longer term, analysts say airlines from across the region will be queuing up to feed cadets into the academy.

Currently, the Qantas Group sources pilots from a mix of new graduates from existing flying schools, pilots from general aviation and the military, and from other commercial airlines. This is expected to continue in order to provide the different levels of experience needed by the national carrier.

An additional program to help mentor and then recruit the ‘best and brightest’ aviation students from five Australian universities was announced last year. The Group has more than 3,500 pilots and plans to recruit a further 350 by the end of 2018. Qantas first had a pilot training school in the 1920s, shortly after the airline was established. Some of Australia’s earliest aviators were trained at its facilities in Brisbane and Longreach. Today, the group has a series of training facilities and flight simulators around the country as part of ongoing skills development for established pilots.

Joyce announced the Academy project in February when the airline released its financial results for the first half of the 2017/18 year.
“Qantas’s success has always been rooted in the skill of well-trained professionals – on the ground and in the air. That’s never going to change,” he declared.

“Globally, aviation is one of the big growth industries. And the demand for skilled personnel is increasing each year. Right now, we’re in the middle of the biggest pilot training and recruitment drive in Qantas’s history. But we want to make sure we have a talent pipeline that is charged well into the future – and keep our reputation for having some of the best pilots in the world.”

He said Qantas wanted to attract qualified men and women – ideally, in equal number – to be pilots on its network “to learn from the best… and to be the best.”

Of the 12,500 expressions of interest to date, Qantas says 15 per cent of those were women.

“The proportion of women who have registered their interest is also significant for a profession that currently has a global average of three per cent female representation and puts us on track to reach our goal under the Nancy Bird Walton initiative to reach at least 40 per cent women in our pilot intakes in ten years’ time,” Nobelius said.

Initially, training will be limited to cadets who plan to join the Qantas Group, including Jetstar and QantasLink, but over time he believes there is huge potential for the Academy to train for the industry more broadly.

“We have some of the most talented pilots in the world flying for us. So, imagine the demand to have Qantas pilots train others. To do it, we’ll partner with a leading education provider. And we’ll engage with Federal, State and Territory Governments who want to attract a facility of this calibre.

‘Imagine the demand to have Qantas pilots train others.’

There’s no reason why the Qantas Group Pilot Academy can’t become one of Australia’s competitive strengths in the region.”

The typical path for most students entering the academy will be high school and university graduates with strong academic performance. After up to 18 months of classroom, simulator and real-world flight training, students will then receive further training specific to the type of aircraft they will be flying before entering service as a First Officer on turboprop aircraft, sitting next to an experienced Captain.

“We train our pilots to the highest standards and we can draw on almost 100 years of aviation experience,” says Joyce.

“We want to help shape the next generation of pilots and that’s why we’re establishing the Qantas Group Pilot Academy. We expect the typical entrants to be high school or university graduates with a strong academic performance. After 18 months of classroom, simulator and real-world flight training, they will graduate.”

While the academy will initially focus on pilot training Qantas has also made it clear that over time it will look to train other specialized roles. This will certainly include maintenance engineers, with Boeing forecasting a requirement for some 648,000 over the next two decades, 256,000 of them in the Asia Pacific.

“Whether it’s flying a Dash 8 across to Longreach or landing a Boeing 787 Dreamliner at Los Angeles, our pilots say they have the best office in the world,” says Joyce.