Academy bid overlooked

GEELONG has been overlooked as Qantas narrows the race to host its $20 million new pilot academy down to nine cities.

The Qantas Group yesterday released a shortlist of the nine regional cities in the running to host its new pilot academy.

Bendigo was the only Victorian city to be chosen.

Qantas Group pilot academy executive manager Wes Nobelius said it was difficult to narrow down the possible locations from more than 60 cities across the country.

“From ideas around scholarships to a community photo shoot in Mackay and a video message from the children of Dubbo, we’ve been really impressed with the quality of responses and the level of support on offer,” he said.

A final decision on the academy’s location is expected to be made by September.

The academy will aim to accommodate 100 students in its first year of operation before growing to house up to 500 students each year.

Mr Nobelius said Qantas was considering running a second academy if the need was proved.

“We think there could be enough demand from the broader industry for us to train up to 500 pilots a year, and to do that we’re likely to need two separate academies because of the practical realities of trying to do that much training in a single location.”

Avalon Airport boss Justin Giddings previously said the regional airport was an ideal location for the academy.

“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.”