Dubbo mayor Ben Shields says a bid to persuade Qantas to choose the city for its $20 million pilot academy is gaining positive feedback from the community and the airline.
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Qantas’s announcement last month it would establish a training base in a regional area in 2019 to train up to 500 pilots sparked a wave of interest.
Dubbo Regional Council is one of at least nine NSW councils moving to make a bid for the facility, with hopefuls drawing up battle plans.
Cr Shields said Dubbo’s bid was moving ahead and the council expected the actual parameters from Qantas “any day”.
“So as soon as we get the actual parameters, we can then go on to the detailed business case,” he said.
“At the moment the very generalised version is progressing quite well.”
He confirmed in the meantime the council had reached out to the airline.
“Multiple correspondence, everything from the boss of Qantaslink right through to their PR department who are having a chuckle at our social media video,” he said.
“The correspondence and feedback we’ve been getting so far from Qantas has been very, very encouraging.”
Cr Shields said he was keen to show the “entire community’s enthusiasm for Qantas”.
“So far it’s going really well, the positive feedback we’ve been getting from the local community but also from people within the aviation industry has been huge,” he said.
Tamworth Regional Council has emerged as a keen competitor for the academy.
It’s considering upgrading QantasLink’s maintenance hangar in the city, as it seeks to bolster its case.
On Monday Cr Shields said Tamworth was “talking a big game” but he remained “absolutely confident Dubbo is the place” for the facility to be in in NSW.
“If Tamworth were to huff and puff about providing a piece of infrastructure, Dubbo… has the potential to match it,” he said.
“They just simply don’t have the centralised location or the links to the regional areas in those regional ports that Dubbo has.”
“It’s as simple as that...
“Dubbo is better strategically placed when dealing with the southern ports as well, around Victoria.”
Faye Wheeler
I have been a journalist for more than a decade and in that time I have been keeping Daily Liberal readers up to date about issues affecting them and what's happening in their community. Throughout my career I have covered a range of rounds and most recently I have been focusing on the business round.
I have been a journalist for more than a decade and in that time I have been keeping Daily Liberal readers up to date about issues affecting them and what's happening in their community. Throughout my career I have covered a range of rounds and most recently I have been focusing on the business round.
