Qantas has expanded their pilot training capacity with a new facility adjacent to Brisbane Airport. The Qantas Group Flight Training Centre is home to four state-of-the-art flight simulators including Boeing 737, 767F and 787 Dreamliner, as well as DHC Dash 8-400.
On Monday (January 31, 2022), Qantas announced the opening of the Qantas Group Flight Training Centre adjacent to Brisbane Airport, with the capacity to train up to 900 pilots annually. The facility houses four state-of-the art flight simulators including Boeing 737, 767F, and 787 simulators, as well as a DHC Dash 8-400 simulator and a Dash 8-400 (Q400) flight training device. The simulators were relocated from Sydney to make way for a major road project, and were dismantled, transported by road and reinstalled over a four moth period at the Brisbane facility. Since the majority of Qantas’ pilots are based in the three eastern states, the Brisbane centre, along with expanded facilities in Melbourne and a new flight training centre to be developed in Sydney, will provide significant cost saving by training pilots at their home base.
In Monday’s announcement, Qantas Group’s CEO, Alan Joyce, said,
“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. Qantas’ very first flying school was set up in 1927 in a tin shed at Eagle Farm, 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.
“We have a Pilot Training Academy in Toowoomba that is providing a pilot pipeline to Qantas Group and other airlines, and some of the graduates have already secured pilot positions with QantasLink. They will complete the simulator phase of their training program at the new Queensland facility. We’d like to thank the Queensland Government for its support in making this new facility possible, which means more jobs based in Queensland and an ongoing economic boost for the state.”
For the benefit of our readers, we have included B-Roll footage courtesy of Qantas for an inside look at the airline's new Brisbane training centre.
An Inside look at the new Qantas Group Flight Training Centre in Brisbane - Courtesy Qantas
The new Brisbane facility will provide recurrent training to over 500 Queensland-based pilots, as well as pilots from other states and new pilots who will join Qantas for years to come. Additionally, the centre will be open to other airlines in the Asia-Pacific region to train new pilots, upskill pilots to new aircraft types, and allow experienced pilots to complete recurrent training. The centre will be staffed by 33 Qantas team members including 18 new roles for highly skilled simulator instructors, technician and support staff. Construction started in March 2021 and the simulators and training device are now active 24 hours a day, with up to 50 pilots and trainers using the facility daily.
Source: Qantas