Originally Posted by
TempoTCu
Who would like to blow 150k with no guarantee of a job afterwards just because of the "Qantas" brand on the flight school? It is no different to any of the other integrated flight schools throughout the country so, my question is, what is the specific value proposition offered by the Wellcamp facility over any other flight school?
The high probability if you want to work for Australia's biggest airline group your best shot will be through this academy. Whilst some non academy pilots will be employed into the group if the need arises with the numbers they're talking I'd imagine the vast bulk of the group's pilots will come from this institution.
Not every graduate will get a job straight away, some may get to the end of their course and find that business conditions have caused recruitment to stop temporarily. But then no GA or military pilot will be getting employed either. And when recruitment is ongoing I'd assume these academy graduates will be first priority.
You could save some money by training at another school (but with the cost these days not that much more), and you'd be hunting for a job elsewhere to build up the experience then applying in the hope that the airline has a need to recruit pilots from outside the academy. And being further back in Seniority. The slightly higher price of the academy would be outweighed by the long term career benefits..
Virgin is doing a similar thing with their academy in Tamworth. We are going to have a fundamental shift in how the two airline groups in Australia select and employ their pilots over the next few years.