Australia’s Qantas has opened a new pilot training facility adjacent to Brisbane airport, with the capacity to train up to 900 pilots a year. The Qantas Group flight training centre features four aircraft simulators – for Boeing 737, 767F, 787 and De Haviland Canada Dash 8-400 aircraft – as well as a Q400 flight training device, Qantas says in release today. It adds that these are 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 re-installed at the new centre over a four-month period. The airline says 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 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. Construction commenced in March 2021 and the four simulators and flight training device are active round the clock with up to 50 pilots and trainers using the centre each day. The facility will also 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. Qantas Group chief executive Alan Joyce says “it would improve the efficiency of the airline’s flight training function and added to Qantas’ sizeable footprint in Queensland”. The facility will be staffed by 33 team members including 18 new roles for highly skilled simulator instructors, simulator technicians and support staff.

India’s flag carrier Air India has been officially handed over to the Tata Group. The group says it took ownership of the carrier and its management on 27 January following the completion of the transaction for the purchase of the airline from the government of India. The Mumbai-based conglomerate was selected as the new owner of the airline by the government in October 2021. The transaction covers three entities – Air India, Air India Express, and AI SATS. Air India Express is a low-cost carrier, while AI SATS provides ground handling and cargo handling services. "We are excited to have Air India back in the Tata Group, and are committed to making this a world-class airline," Tata Sons chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran says. "I warmly welcome all the employees of Air India, Air India Express, and AI SATS to our group, and look forward to working together," he adds.

Emirates plans to resume flights to seven African destinations from Dubai starting 29 January. Destinations include Addis Ababa in Ethiopia; Dar es Salaam in Tanzania; Nairobi in Kenya; Harare in Zimbabwe; and Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban in South Africa, the Middle Eastern carrier says. The airline will begin daily flights to Johannesburg on 29 January and increase the frequency to twice daily from 1 February. Daily services to Cape Town and Durban will also commence on 1 February. Emirates will operate 10 weekly flights to Nairobi from 29 January, while services to Addis Ababa will be operated daily from 30 January. Five-times-weekly flights to Dar es Salaam and six-times-weekly flights to Harare via Lusaka in Zambia will start on 30 January. Customers flying in and out of Emirates’ African gateways “can safely connect to Dubai and to an array of onwards connections to Europe, Middle East, the Americas, West Asia and Australasia”, the carrier says.