Building work to start on Qantas Academy today

CONSTRUCTION on Toowoomba's new Qantas Pilot Training Academy will begin this morning.

An artist's impression of the academy. Picture: Contributed

CONSTRUCTION on Toowoomba's new Qantas Pilot Training Academy will begin this morning.

Wagner Corp chair Denis Wagner said he was very confident work would be completed by the expected July 2019 opening date.

"Work will begin (this) morning," Mr Wagner said.

"We will engage a lot of subcontractors locally and building contractors.

"There will be opportunities right through this region for people to come in and assist us through the construction phase. We're extremely confident we will deliver."

Denis Wagner. Qantas pilot training academy announced for Wellcamp airport. Thursday, 27th Sep, 2018. Picture: Nev Madsen

Mr Wagner said there would be 100 new direct jobs created in the construction phase of the project.

"There will be 300 indirect jobs through construction," he said.

"There are huge economic benefits going forward. Current estimates is the gross regional product in the first year of operations is $34 million for this region."

Qantas announced the plan to open a 500 student capacity academy earlier this year and called for regional airports to submit bids to be considered for the project.

An artist impression of what the Qantas Pilot Training Academy at Wellcamp Airport will look like. Picture: Contributed

In June, the airline announced nine locations in regional Australia had been shortlisted for the academy. Those were Toowoomba, Alice Springs, Bendigo, Busselton, Dubbo, Launceston, Mackay, Tamworth and Wagga Wagga.

In August the airline announced it would select two locations for two smaller 250 student capacity academies.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said the airline wanted to be completely open and transparent in the decision on where to build the facility.

"You can't do that under the radar, you have to do that publicly," he said.

Originally published as Building work to start on Qantas Academy today