[Peetwo]

Dick backs QF pilot academy -

Via the Oz:

Smith backs Qantas academy

12:00amANNABEL HEPWORTH
Dick Smith has thrown his support behind an announcement by ­Qantas that it will open a pilot academy.

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Businessman and aviator Dick Smith has thrown his support ­behind the announcement by ­Qantas that it will open a pilot academy that could train up to 500 pilots a year.

Mr Smith, a former chairman of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and its predecessor, said it was the best news he had heard for the last 20 years in aviation. He said Australia had the capacity to be a world leader in training pilots. He singled out a plan by Qantas to create an academy that would potentially be used not just by Qantas but by the sector more broadly by training pilots for other airlines.

The Australian has detailed the rush to sec­ure pilots, greater ­foreign ownership of Australian train­ing schools and the costs and red tape that have struck flying schools.

While posting a record interim underlying pre-tax profit of $976 million, Qantas boss Alan Joyce said the airline would set up the pilot academy to meet a growing need for pilots.

The school, expected to take students next year, will initially train 100 pilots a year for jobs within Qantas, but this could grow to 500 pilots a year on a fee-for-service basis if there was demand from the aviation industry.

Qantas has recruited 600 ­pilots since 2016 and plans a further 350 in the next year, Mr Joyce said.

“We want to make sure we have the talent pipeline that is charged well into the future.”

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& from the Border Mail:

February 24 2018 - 5:00PM
Qantas announces plans for pilot training school based in Australian regional centre

• [/url]
  David Johnston
  [url=http://www.bordermail.com.au/profile/585/david-johnston]
  

Local News



ALBURY has been urged to make a strong bid to become the home for the Qantas flying school capable of training up to 500 pilots per year.

The airline has committed to establishing the flying training centre as early as next year with an initial $20 million investment confirmed this week.

A large regional centre will be chosen due to easy access to uncongested airspace.
Entrepreneur and aviator Dick Smith said the city chosen would gain a massive economic boost and encouraged Albury Council to make a bid.

Mr Smith has campaigned for 20 years for Australia to become a flying training world leader, but has been frustrated by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority.

“They’ve been increasing costs, red tape and regulation so I understand flying training is down 30 per cent in the last five years,” he said.
 

Dick Smith

“Some services have been cut to regional Australia because there is not enough pilots and that is nothing short of criminal.

“It’s the best news I’ve heard in 20 years that Qantas are not only going to train pilots for their own airline, but they will train pilots who can then go out and get a job for any airline.

“Places like Albury can benefit and I would imagine the council should be getting a letter into Qantas saying ‘come to Albury’.

“They are talking about training up to 500 pilots a year so that is a lot of employment, accommodation, fuel purchased and a huge economic boost to the country town involved.”

Albury Council owns its airport.

Mr Smith will be in Albury on Saturday for the official opening of Rotor Solutions Australia’s new headquarters.

An Albury bid has the backing of Farrer MP and a pilot licence holder, Sussan Ley.
“I think we would be a perfect base for the new academy,” she said.

“We already have the right services and supports in place for what Qantas will need, and I’ll certainly be doing everything I can to put a border bid in front of (chairman) Alan Joyce and the decision makers on this one.”

Mayor Kevin Mack said council had been in touch with Qantas to discuss the potential of the airline developing a pilot training academy in Albury.

“Albury Airport is the gateway for business, tourism and recreational travel for Albury and Wodonga as well as surrounding communities, and with four commercial airlines servicing the market, an academy to train the next generation of pilots would be a terrific fit for our wider community,” he said.

“We’re working now with Sussan Ley to prepare a preliminary proposal and we’re excited to think that Albury could be in the running to host a centre that would be crucial to the future of Australian aviation while also providing a huge boost to the local economy.”

Finally more on the Airports & Air Routes Senate Inquiry submissions...

Again via the Oz...

Third runway ‘to benefit regionals’

12:00amANNABEL HEPWORTH
Australia’s largest airport says greater use of its third runway would boost access by regional services.

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 Australia’s largest airport says greater use of its third runway would boost access by regional services.

Amid growing political scrutiny into regional air services, Sydney Airport warns that a preference by pilots and airways to use the main 3962m north-south runway over the 2438m parallel runway means fewer flights are able to land or take off from the airport during peak periods.

This “serves to limit arrivals of regional flights during the morning peak, while excess capacity remains on the parallel runway,” the airport’s chief executive officer, Geoff Culbert, says in a Sydney Airport submission to an influential Senate inquiry into services to rural, regional and remote areas.

“Rebalancing the use of the runways, with greater use of the parallel runway, would be greatly beneficial for increasing regional access,” he said.

The airport’s third runway was opened in 1994 because of the growing demand for aviation in Sydney, but after it opened there were protests over the hot-button issue of extra aircraft noise.

The submission comes as ­Virgin Australia warns that commonwealth-legislated rules for managing slots at the airport are “inhibiting” the growth of regional NSW air services and leading to potentially higher airfares.

In its submission, Sydney Airport also takes aim at the cap on aircraft movements.

The cap allows 80 slots in each hour, with the numbers counted every 15 minutes, which Sydney says “limits the growth of the number of services to Sydney Airport by regional flights”.

“By effectively having two caps, with one addressing scheduled flights and the other actual movements, there is a high degree of inflexibility to recover from a delay caused by weather or other events,” the submission says.

“With the timetable of regional flights specifically designed to allow people from regional communities to fly to Sydney and back on the one day, the inability to ­recover from delays especially risks frustrating their reasons to travel, such as arriving late or missing their appointment entirely.”

These problems are exacerbated by the way the north-south parallel runways are used, the airport argues.

“One measure that could be considered to increase access would be to exempt regional flights from the cap, provided they use the parallel runway, which has greater spare capacity than the main north-south runway,” the airport says.

“However, any such change would need to be considered in the context of the overall airport ­system and slot management at Sydney Airport to avoid causing other consequences.”

Regional Aviation Association of Australia chief executive Mike Higgins said the group supported any measure that would boost the productivity and accessibility of Sydney Airport to regional ­operators.

Mr Higgins said the group agreed that turboprop aircraft could be exempted from the 80 movements per hour cap, as they are from the curfew.

“This alone would increase the productivity at Sydney Airport by allowing more movements per hour,” he said.

“Moving more regional operators on to the third runway at Sydney comes with a penalty as it involves increased taxi times with a consequent increase in delays, aircraft turnaround times and a negative impact in on-time performance.

“Therefore any move to the third runway for regional operators would have to come with a corresponding benefit.

“To compensate for the negative commercial and operational impact of moving to the third runway any resultant increase in movements would need to be allocated to the slots currently preserved for NSW regional flights. Without this the regionals would be paying the penalty while the major airlines and Sydney Airport receive all the benefit.”

Australian Federation of Air Pilots president David Booth said the runway was operationally good but “unfortunately the 80 movement per hour cap is the limiting factor here”.

“There’s no real benefit unless the cap can be adjusted,” or the 15 minute measurements changed, Mr Booth said, noting that newer aircraft were quieter.

“In short, the solution is the cap, not the runway used,” he said.

MTF...P2