Qantas chief on how Mackay won pilot academy

#MackayWantsYouQantas campaign was ‘amazingly influential’ to securing academy in Mackay.

Student pilot Beth Acton. Official opening of Qantas Group Pilot Academy at Wellcamp Airport. Wednesday, 29th Jan, 2020.

MACKAY'S enthusiasm backed by a solid business case was the impressive clincher for Qantas to choose the city as the second base for a landmark pilot training academy.

Qantas chief executive officer Alan Joyce officially opened the first training centre at Wellcamp Airport, but it was Mackay that warranted a special mention amid the formalities.

The Daily Mercury's #MackayWantsYouQantas campaign was "amazingly influential" to the national airline's decision to build a centre at Mackay Airport, Mr Joyce said.

"I think it is always good when you're loved and you're wanted," he said.

"We had a list of 100 criteria that we evaluated on every airport, so there was a lot from around the country that we looked at, and (Mackay) won.

"The enthusiasm also helped."

The Qantas Group Pilot Academy at Wellcamp Airport, outside Toowoomba, could train pilots for other airlines and expand beyond its planned 250-capacity size, and Mackay is the next location for construction.

"Mackay is the next port," Mr Joyce said.

"We haven't given a timeframe of it at the moment.

"It depends on the ramp up of this, and how it gets into place, but we will do it as fast as we possibly can."

Mackay Mayor Greg Williamson said the pilot academy would be a game-changer for the region.

"That's why council has been so supportive of this and why we pushed so hard to get that second academy for us," Cr Williamson said.

"So with us and the airport, as the operational part of the whole push, I recognise it could not have been done without the massive support generated from our public, and that was led by the media and the Daily Mercury's

#MackayWantsYouQantas campaign.

"For Mr Joyce to recognise that now is absolute proof that when our community gets behind something, we can make it happen."

For Beth Acton, an aspiring pilot originally from Mackay and now a resident student at the Wellcamp centre, the training academy has put her within reach of her dream.

Flying, she said, was everything "I thought it would be, and more".

"Myself and three others out of the 12 (students) had zero experience," she said of her aviation background before moving to Wellcamp.

"So it was quite a steep learning curve; I'm learning more every day.

"It is everything I thought it would be, and more."

Ms Acton has nine months left in the program, having completed three.