The Qantas Group will invest more than $40 million across a range of new initiatives to train the next generation of Australian aviation talent and accelerate skills across the airline and broader industry, including:
- New Qantas Group Safety Academy set to launch in 2025
- $40 million investment in cabin safety training assets and new facilities across Australia
- Doubling the number of Pilot Academy scholarships in 2025
QANTAS GROUP SAFETY ACADEMY
Qantas will establish an Australian-first safety academy in partnership with Griffith University and RMIT University, offering safety education credentials designed to upskill safety professionals and develop safety leaders across all industries.
The Qantas Group Safety Academy is set to initially launch in 2025 with safety-related micro credentials across areas including safety culture, risk management, data management, cyber safety and human safety factors including sleep and fatigue management. Courses can be taken online with either university or on campus at RMIT University and students can apply for the courses to be used as credit towards other relevant post-graduate qualifications.
In 2026, Academy's offering is planned to expand to offer accredited post graduate qualifications before delivering advanced research programs to benefit industry through the establishment of a Centre of Safety Excellence.
Prospective students and employers can register their expression of interest at qantas.com/safetyacademy
NEW GROUND TRAINING FACILITY AND EQUIPMENT
To meet the Qantas Group's growing demand for training as it significantly expands its fleet and workforce, the airline will invest more than $40 million in state-of-the-art training assets and facilities across Australia, including a new dedicated ground training facility in Sydney.
Due to open in mid-2026, the new Sydney Ground Training Facility will be based at Qantas' Mascot campus and will be a dedicated site for emergency procedures training for more than 5000 Qantas, Jetstar and QantasLink pilots and cabin crew each year.
The facility will be home to new and existing training equipment including door trainers, virtual reality training spaces, a new narrow body cabin trainer and additional classrooms. Ground training equipment will be relocated from the new Sydney Flight Training Facility, which will open space for Qantas to boost the number of Cockpit Procedure Trainers and support more flight training.
A new dedicated ground training facility will also be opened in Perth from mid-2025. New emergency procedure training equipment will be housed in existing training facilities in Brisbane (to support QantasLink A220 and Qantas A321XLR growth) and in Melbourne (to support Jetstar, Qantas, Qantas Freight and QantasLink training).
INVESTING IN A DIVERSE PIPELINE OF PILOTS
In 2025, the Qantas Group will also double the number of scholarships for female students and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to attend the pilot academy in Toowoomba, offering 20 scholarships.
Each scholarship is worth up to $30,000 towards accommodation and food at the Academy. Tuition fees are additional.
Since opening in 2020, more than 400 students have graduated from the Academy to join the Qantas Group and the broader aviation industry, with women representing 20 per cent of graduates.
Globally, 4 per cent of commercial airline pilots are women[1], with the Qantas Group slightly higher at more than 7 per cent.
COMMENTS
Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson said the new initiatives and investment build on the Qantas Group's extensive existing training footprint including the Qantas Group Pilot Academy, the Engineering Academy opening next year and flight training centres around Australia.
"Safety and training have been part of Qantas' DNA since our first flight back in 1922," said Ms Hudson.
"With a historic fleet renewal program underway, we have more than a hundred new aircraft on order for Qantas and Jetstar that each represent a growth opportunity for our people and the broader industry.
"Our people have been long renowned for their high standards of safety and training and this is the foundation of the investment we're making in the future of Australian aviation and other industries.
"Our multi-million-dollar training investment means there will be new facilities and state-of-the-art equipment across Australia to train our current pilots and cabin crew, as well as the thousands of crew expected to join the Qantas Group over the next decade.
"The new Qantas Group Safety Academy will help upskill a generation of safety and risk professionals, leaning on Qantas's century of practical experience with safety leadership and the academic expertise of RMIT and Griffith University.
"As we train the next generation of pilots, we want to make sure that we're reaching a broader and more diverse talent base which is why we're expanding our scholarship program for the Qantas Group Pilot Academy," added Ms Hudson.
Dean (Academic) in the Griffith Sciences Group, Professor Rosalind Archer: "Griffith is an industry leader in the area of safety science where we can offer a combination of leadership, science and social science across a multidisciplinary and multi-industry platform.
"This is not a cookie cutter approach to safety science, but micro credentials with depth which offers a post graduate learning environment for professionals who want to advance their careers and take the next step."
RMIT Aviation Academy Director Lea Vesic said: "RMIT's partnership with Qantas is testament to the quality of our training and leadership - not just in producing job-ready graduates but fostering collaboration across the sector."
"The new Qantas Safety Academy will utilise our training expertise to build a pipeline of safety leaders who have a broad set of critical skills.
"These types of industry partnerships - and innovative training delivery - will be even more critical as we look to futureproof the aviation industry in Australia."
QANTAS GROUP 2023 - 2033 TEN-YEAR RECRUITMENT NEED
As announced last year, the Qantas Group will create 8,500 new Australia-based operational positions over the next decade including:
| Cabin Crew | 4,500 |
| Pilots | 1,600 |
| Engineers | 800 |
| Other ops roles (e.g. airports) | 1,600 |
[1] According to the International Civil Aviation Organisation, women make up approximately 4 per cent of pilots in service globally.
