Roll out the red tail carpet

THE Territory Government must roll out the red carpet to Qantas and find out exactly what is needed to bring its $20 million flying academy to Darwin

THE Territory Government must roll out the red carpet to Qantas and find out exactly what is needed to bring its $20 million flying academy to Darwin.

The academy is expected to take students next year, initially training 100 pilots a year for jobs within Qantas, but it would potentially be used more broadly by training pilots for other airlines.

If there was demand from the aviation industry this could grow to hundreds of pilots a year on a fee-for-service basis. A pilot academy that could train up to 500 pilots a year would be game changing for Darwin and the Territory and should not be underestimated. US aerospace giant Boeing estimates 640,000 more pilots will be needed in the next 20 years with 40 per cent in the Asia-Pacific region.

Australia has the capacity to be a world leader in training pilots and Darwin, as its home, would be the best news the Territory economy has had in a frighteningly long time.

The good news is that Chief Minister Michael Gunner is moving fast to prepare a powerful case to put to Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce, who he is meeting in Alice Springs tomorrow.

And with very good reason. Far North Queensland has already started beating a path to Mr Joyce’s door. This is going to be highly competitive and Mr Joyce has made it clear that incentive packages offered to the Qantas Group and what facilities already exist will be critical to deciding the successful bidder.

This is where the competition from Cairns will be fierce. It has a $16 million Aviation Centre of Excellence at the airport.

Our proximity to Asia, the variety of weather conditions and importantly our vast tracks of open airspace to train, favour the Territory. We have nothing to lose and a lot to gain by having the flying kangaroo training its pilots in the Northern Territory.