TOP GUN SCHOOL BID
BRING IT HERE: Avalon’s pitch for $20m pilot academy
AVALON Airport would be a perfect site for a hotly contested $20 million Qantas pilot training academy, the airport’s chief has declared.
The call comes after Qantas invited regional cities and state governments to submit proposals for the best site for the academy.
AVALON Airport would be a perfect site for a hotly contested $20 million Qantas pilot training academy, the airport’s chief has declared.
The call comes after Qantas launched a formal process inviting regional cities and state governments to submit proposals for the best regional centre to establish its new pilot academy.
Avalon Airport boss Justin Giddings said the regional airport was an ideal location for the academy, and would now work with the Government on its submission.
“We do a lot of pilot training already — it’s just what we’ve been doing for years and years so we’re sort of a natural home for it,” Mr Giddings said. “We’ve got air traffic control, we’ve got the fire service there, we’ve got all the amenities. Avalon would be perfect.”
The airport boss said pilot training academies were typically very lucrative for the regions where they were built.
“Especially pulling in people from overseas, because they’ll come in, they’ll live there, they’ll spend there, they’ll train there,” he said.
“Pretty much every regional centre around Austra- lia will be chasing it — so it’s going to be really hot.”
The academy will aim to accommodate 100 students in its first year of operation before growing to house up to 500 students each year.
Qantas Group Pilot Academy executive manager Wes Nobelius said many regional centres had already signalled their interest in attracting the academy, which is expected to open its doors next year.
“More than 40 regional cities have indicated they’ll be making a bid to be home to the academy,” Mr Nobelius said. “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.”
A successful regional submission will need to include access to uncongested airspace and the infrastructure to accommodate students.
Qantas began accepting submissions on Friday with the closing date of June 8. A shortlist will be announced before the final decision on the academy’s location is made in the final months of this year.
More than 12,500 aspiring pilots — including almost 2000 women — have already registered their interest in the academy.