Qantas expands pilot training with new simulator facility in Brisbane

Qantas has opened a new pilot training facility at Brisbane Airport, with the capacity to train up to 900 pilots a year.

Located adjacent to Brisbane Airport, the Qantas Group Flight Training Centre is home to four state-of-the-art aircraft simulators – Boeing 737, 767F and 787 Dreamliner and Dash-8 Q400 – as well as a Q400 flight training device, all used by pilots to complete their four annual sessions of simulator training and specialised training when moving to a new aircraft type.  

The simulators were relocated from Sydney to make way for a major road project and were dismantled, transported by road and re-installed at the new Brisbane centre over a four month period.  

With the majority of Qantas’ pilots based in the three eastern states, the Brisbane centre, along with expanded facilities in Melbourne and a new flight training centre to be developed in Sydney, will provide significant cost savings through training pilots at their home base. 

The Brisbane facility will provide reoccurring training for the airline’s 500-plus Queensland-based pilots as well as pilots from other states and many of the new pilots who will join the Qantas Group in the years to come. 

The facility also has a commercial dimension to it and will be open to other airlines in the Asia Pacific region to train newly recruited pilots, upskill pilots to new aircraft types and allow experienced pilots to maintain their ongoing training. 

The training facility will be staffed by 33 team members including 18 new roles for highly skilled simulator instructors, simulator technicians and support staff. 

Construction commenced in March 2021 and the four simulators and flight training device are now active 24 hours a day, with up to 50 pilots and trainers using the centre each day. 

Vision of Qantas Group pilots in the new Flight Training Centre is available hereOpens in a new tab or window.