ANDREW Barr has delightedly announced QantasLink will bring up to 40 engineering jobs to Canberra.

“It will relocate the heavy maintenance for its entire Boeing 717 fleet of 18 aircraft to the ACT for at least the next five years under today’s agreement,” Andrew said.

“I am aware that QantasLink had a number of cities to choose from, but we put a strong case to them to bring this investment to Canberra. I acknowledge the professional and productive way QantasLink worked with the ACT Government and I congratulate them on making the right decision by coming to Canberra.

“It’s fantastic to see yet another global company giving a major vote of confidence in the ACT. We know we need to diversify our economy to become less and less reliant on our largest employer, the Commonwealth Government. Attracting major corporations like Qantas, together with playing to our strengths in education and tourism and investing in infrastructure, is how we achieve this.

“The program will be up and running by October, with the first jobs moving to Canberra within weeks to begin setting up the heavy maintenance base.

“The highly trained QantasLink technicians will bring new skills to the ACT, this link with high end technology is something we can build on to create new jobs and attract more investment.

“The estimated value of the new arrangement to the ACT economy is around $5 million a year and our agreement with Qantas allows for the program to expand over the coming years.

QantasLink CEO John Gissing joined Andrew at Canberra Airport to make the announcement.

“From October, Canberra will be at the heart of our Boeing 717 engineering operation with the facility to be developed to service QantasLink’s fleet of 18 Boeing 717 aircraft,” Mr Gissing said,” John said.

“Canberra is a very important market for the Qantas Group and we’re delighted to expand our footprint in our nation’s capital.”

The 717 is a plane that entered service around the turn of the millenium as an update of the venerable DC-9.

[Photo by planegeezer, attribution licence]