Qantas is doubling down on digital transformation, with plans to add over 420 AI, software development, and data specialists over 3 years as its second-ever Product Innovation Centre (PIC) opens in increasingly airline-friendly Adelaide by March next year.

The new centre – which will complement the company’s existing Sydney facility – will focus on designing and building new digital experiences for travellers, with the airline flagging applications such as app improvements, automated check-in and smarter bag tracking.

It will be at least partly staffed by university graduates, as the airline also mints a partnership with Adelaide University and its Australian Institute for Machine Learning (AIML), which will support PIC with graduate career pathways and research collaboration.

This includes scholarships for PhD and Honours students in the Industrial AI Program that AIML launched last year, with the new roles in PIC including UI/UX designers, software developers, business analysts, and product owners.

The new Qantas PIC, by contrast, “will bring the best Australian skilled talent together to build digital products and experiences that make travel easier and more personalised,” Qantas Group CEO Vanessa Hudson said in announcing the new centre.

The centre, she said, “marks a new chapter in our efforts to reimagine the travel experience”.

The strategic partnership with Qantas reflects “a mutual interest in driving innovation and technological advancements,” Adelaide University deputy vice chancellor for international and external engagement Jessica Gallagher added.

“Especially in the field of AI,” she added, the partnership will be “supporting workforce development and contributing to the long-term future of Australia’s aviation sector.”

Adelaide’s tech sector is taking flight

That sector is currently undergoing a major transformation in Adelaide, which is recording high employment and, Malinauskas said, will further benefit from PIC’s “strong regional capability” including a local leadership team and dedicated HR and administrative staff.

Those jobs are part of a fast-growing environment of investment in Adelaide, which has spent $600 million on airport redevelopment and will soon anchor a host of new international routes as airlines respond in kind.


Qantas says it will open its second-ever Product Innovation Centre (PIC) in Adelaide in 2026. Image: Shutterstock

Qantas, for example, recently introduced direct flights from Adelaide to Auckland while Air New Zealand will fly direct to Adelaide and Christchurch, while Cathay Pacific is flying to Hong Kong and China Southern Airlines flying to Guangzhou.

US carrier United Airlines has also invested heavily in Adelaide, with a new Adelaide to San Francisco route providing Adelaide tech firms with a nonstop link to Silicon Valley for the first time.

Adelaide’s airline-focused turnaround is an outgrowth of its long-term investment in shipbuilding and other large-scale manufacturing, and has garnered the city global attention – including its selection to host industry summit the CAPA Airline Leader Summit Australia Pacific in 2022, 2026, and 2028.

Rebuilding the graduate pipeline

Australian firms’ spending on R&D increased by 18 per cent to $24.4 billion during 2023-24, according to recent figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, with AI spending up 142 per cent in the past three years to $668.3 million – and software engineering overall up 26 per cent to $4.9 billion.

Qantas’s choice of Adelaide for the new PIC is “historic”, South Australia Premier Peter Malinauskas said, noting that the deal “will help supercharge growth in new highly skilled, high tech jobs” and build “a strong pipeline of talent with advanced AI and digital skillsets.”

That pipeline is an olive branch to junior ICT graduates that have, a recent Harvard study of 10,599 AI-adopting firms found, been cut out of entry-level job opportunities, with AI adopters reducing graduate hiring by 7.7 per cent since ChatGPT emerged in 2022.


Qantas is working to integrate features like digital travel declarations. Image: Supplied

Investing in the hiring of graduates, and in their development, could help reverse this trend as the airline – which is working to recover from tech issues, a massive data breach and a $100 million fine for maliciously exploiting its customers – launches a charm offensive.

Confirming the new centre’s focus on building out the capabilities of the Qantas app, the company is already advertising roles in the Adelaide facility including software technical leads, Android and iOS developers, quality engineers, and mobile back-end developers.

The choice of Adelaide was easy, Qantas’s Hudson said, since the city “gives us access to world-class universities, a thriving tech community, and the ability to scale our in-house capability.”

“It’s an investment in Australian innovation that will deliver real benefits for our customers.”