Qantas Pilot Academy

Qantas has named the location for the first of two pilot training academies. Work has already begun to get it up and running by the middle of next year. The toughest job may be finding enough instructors but the international training organisation that will run the academy, L3, believes it has a recipe for success.

No one is being specific about the amount of hard cash each of the players is pumping into the new Qantas Group Pilot Academy at Wellcamp Airport, Toowoomba. Except for Qantas itself, which has pledged $20 million for the Queensland centre and a second academy which is expected to be announced by the end of November.

But when Qantas Group chief executive Alan Joyce flew into Toowoomba on September 28 with local dignitaries and media aboard a chartered QantasLink Bombardier Dash 8 there was no doubt the package that snared the deal for Wellcamp had left other regional contenders floundering, for the time being at least.