Qantas Group will establish a maintenance and training facility for subsidiary Jetstar Airways in Melbourne, as the low-cost carrier prepares to take delivery of its first Boeing 787 aircraft.
Qantas says a flight simulator will be installed at the group's flight training centre in Airport West, where it will also house a replica of the 787 cabin door, to be used for crew training.
With the facility, the company expects to create up to 100 jobs including cabin crew trainers, simulator instructors and engineers.
Jetstar is also leasing a widebody hangar from the group, which will undertake line maintenance of the 787. The facility is now being fitted out with the required equipment and tooling.
There are 48 engineers and 10 pilots which have already completed their 787 training and more training is currently under way, says Jetstar group chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka. "Our cabin crew will be the next group of Jetstar team members to be trained to operate on the aircraft using our dedicated facilities at Airport West," she adds.
Flightglobal's Ascend Online Fleets database shows that Jetstar has 14 787-8s on order. It is scheduled to receive the first aircraft, with registration VH-VKA (MSN 36202), in September. This will be followed another two aircraft in November and December (MSNs 36203 and 36204).
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
