Virgin Blue opens aviation training centre

Virgin Blue recently partnered with Alteon Training LLC, a subsidiary of The Boeing Company, to open a $45 million training centre near Brisbane Airport. The Brisbane Aviation Training Centre is the only one of its kind in Australasia, and Virgin Blue chief executive Brett Godfrey said the company was previously spending more than $20 million a year sending crews offshore for training, and expected a substantial return on investment within two to three years. The 4,200-square metre facility has the capacity to train 250 pilots, cabin crew and maintenance engineers each day, and is equipped with flight simulators, briefing and training rooms, and a cabin crew drill room.

Demand for Six Sigma practitioners on the rise

The demand for Six Sigma practitioners is expected to increase by 500 per cent within the next three years, according to Deanne Tindale, managing consultant for recruitment firm the Ambit Group. There are more than 500 Six Sigma practitioners in Australia. Used extensively by large corporations in the US, Six Sigma is a culture change methodology which is designed to eliminate defects in products and service. Over the past three years, major Australian corporations such as ANZ Bank, BHP Billiton, Telstra, Ford Motor Company and Western Mining Company have implemented Six Sigma, and suppliers of large corporate companies are also beginning to embark on Six Sigma implementation, Tindale said.