Qantas begins construction on Sydney training centre

Qantas has marked the beginning of construction on its new multi-million-dollar flight-training centre in Sydney, expected to open early next year. The facility will train up to 4,500 pilots and cabin crew a year for Qantas and Jetstar with modern training equipment such as aircraft cabin mock-ups and flight-training devices. Eight full-motion simulators will also be installed in the centre, including one for the Airbus A350, the aircraft that will be carrying out non-stop flights from Sydney to London and New York. This will allow Sydney-based pilots to utilise simulators in their home city again after Qantas moved its other simulators to Melbourne and Brisbane in 2021, making way for the New South Wales Government’s Sydney Gateway road project. CEO Alan Joyce attended the ground-breaking ceremony to thank partners and highlight Sydney as the launch city for the company’s non-stop flights. He said: “Qantas provides training for thousands of pilots and cabin crew each year and this purpose-built facility will ensure our high training standards continue as we introduce the next generation of aircraft, grow our network and create new high-skilled jobs. We’ll receive an average of one new aircraft every three weeks for the next three years across the Qantas Group, and more simulator capacity to train new and current pilots is critical.” <br/>