[Peetwo]

And so it begins -

Via the Oz:  

Bush mayors jostle for academy

12:00amANNABEL HEPWORTH

Women have made up about 15 per cent of more than 8500 applicants for Qantas’s proposed pilot academy.

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Bush mayors jostle to host Alan Joyce’s pilot academy

Women make up about 15 per cent of more than 8500 ­aspiring pilots who have registered interest in Qantas’s proposed pilot academy, as regions vie to host the multimillion-dollar training ­facility.

The Australian can also reveal Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce has told state governments it ­expects the academy “will become a key contributor of economic growth and exporter of high- skilled jobs wherever it’s located”.

Amid a global pilot shortage, Qantas wants to get more women into the traditionally male-dominated industry. It has a goal of lifting the proportion of female pilots from 5 per cent, committing to a 20 per cent intake of women in this year’s pilot recruitment campaign. It hopes to double that over the next decade.

International Society of Women Airline Pilots’ communications chairwoman Kathy McCullough backed moves to get more women in the cockpit. She said the level of female pilots in the US was about 4-6 per cent.

Australian Women Pilots’ Association president Deb Evans said the education system needed to “make it far more visible that being a pilot is achievable and rewarding for women”, while airlines needed to make working conditions more flexible to help them achieve their objectives.

On the low numbers of female pilots now, she said perception that it was a “boy’s job” was part of the issue and there was a predominantly male training environment.

“Mentoring and more female role models are needed,’’ Mrs Evans said. “Not just the superwomen types but ordinary, accessible women who are pilots while still having some semblance of ­career-life balance.”

Last week, Qantas announced it would set up a pilot academy to train up to 500 pilots a year, which could make it the largest of its kind in the southern hemisphere. The carrier will hold talks with governments about possible locations and also expects to partner with an existing training provider.

CAE Oxford Aviation Academy general manager Michael Drinkall said it made sense for Qantas to want to partner with an existing flight training organisation “that has the physical and human capacity to meet their needs” because of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority approvals, staffing, assets and infrastructure work required in setting up training. He said a 2019 start-up would be “certainly a tight timeframe if starting from scratch”.

Leaders around regional Australia have put their hands up to host the academy.

Tamworth mayor Col Murray said the area already had infrastructure such as airspace, instrument landing system, control tower and parallel runway and CAE had recently opened a new operating base in Tamworth.

“We’ve already got a community that’s made the adjustment to small planes buzzing around with the training,” Mr Murray said.

Mr Joyce said the plan for the academy was part of his focus on future-proofing the carrier. “We certainly want the volatility taken out of the business,” he said.

“We’re finding no problem attracting people to Qantas. Last time we advertised we had over 1000 applicants from other airlines, from general aviation, from regional aviation and from the military,” Mr Joyce said.

“Our problem is if this trend continues, we think we’ll drain the ecosystem and that’s not good for aviation in the market. The reason why we want to get the pilot school up by 2019 is to future-proof that and give us another source of getting our own pilots.”

Mr Joyce has written to the states and territories about the plan: “Hopefully in the next few months we can get that process going and get conclusion on where it’s going to be based. I’ve had a couple of premiers who were getting rumours of this contact me.”

Hmm...here's an idea - why doesn't QF share the love around and sponsor several regional flying schools and at the same time bring back the Qantas Cadet pilot scheme? - Just saying...

MTF...P2