Logos Prepares $100m Qantas Pilot Centre for Take-Off

Industrial and logistics developer Logos has swooped on a south Sydney infill site earmarked for a $100-million purpose-built Qantas pilot training centre.

The planned facility spanning 7222sq m of floor space will be developed by Logos in partnership with global aviation training provider CAE and Qantas.

It is understood Logos, backed by the Abhu Dhabi Investment Authority via the Logos Australia Logistics Venture, acquired the 7956sq m site at St Peters from rich-lister Ian Malouf in a deal worth close to $40 million.

The site is adjacent to a 13.8ha land holding Logos partnered with Australian Super to secure from Qantas last year as part of a $800-million-plus deal to deliver a state-of-the-art four-level logistics, e-commerce and last-mile logistics hub.

The proposed new Qantas training centre, if approved, will house up to eight flight simulators and will be operated by CAE under a 20-year lease over the site.

It will provide pilot training for the airline’s existing as well as recently ordered fleet that will operate non-stop flights from the east coast of Australia to London and New York.

The facility will also have fixed flight training devices, emergency procedures equipment with aircraft cabin mock-up, and classroom and training facilities. Up to 4500 new and current Qantas and Jetstar pilots and cabin crew a year are expected to use the training centre from early 2024.

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Qantas and CAE to deliver this custom-built facility, strengthening Qantas’ national flight training capabilities as international air travel recovers and Qantas’ aircraft fleet continues to expand,” Logos head of Australia and New Zealand Darren Searle said.

He said the opportunity to acquire the Burrows Road site also represented a “strategic imperative for Logos, given the strength of supply-demand fundamentals for infill development sites and the growing value of industrial land stocks in South Sydney”.

▲ Render of the proposed new Qantas training facility in Sydney to be developed by Logos on a 7956sq m site at St Peters.

“Located within a premium industrial precinct on the doorstep of Sydney airport, the St Peters site provides the ideal location for Qantas’ new training centre, and the long-term commitment provided by CAE reflects the unprecedented level of demand for industrial land stocks that we’re currently seeing,” Searle said.

“This is particularly so in South Sydney given its proximity to Australia’s two main international gateways, the Port of Botany and Sydney Airport.”

The New South Wales government has declared this proposal as state significant with a view to expediting its assessment.

Qantas relocated flight simulators from Sydney to Melbourne and Brisbane in 2021 to make way for the NSW government’s Sydney Gateway road project. Sydney-based pilots currently travel interstate to do their training.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said the new training facility in Sydney would ensure the national carrier’s high training standards continue as it introduces a new generation of aircraft types.

“Qantas has trained its pilots and crew in Sydney for more than half a century and we look forward to bringing this critical function back to NSW with this custom-built facility.

“Sydney will be the launch city for our non-stop flights to London and New York, and will now be the home of pilot training for the A350s, which will operate these flights from 2025.

“As our international network recovers from the impact of Covid and we grow our fleet, this new training centre will give us the simulator capacity to train our new and current pilots.”