Australian ATC students graduate from New Zealand training

A cohort of Airservices Australia students have graduated from Airways International’s air traffic control training programme in New Zealand as part of a landmark training partnership between the two organisations. Under the partnership announced in November 2023, Airways International, the commercial arm of Airways New Zealand has trained an initial cohort of four air traffic control students from Airservices Australia, at the Airways Training academy based in Christchurch. It’s expected that potential future cohorts will also travel to New Zealand for training as part of the collaboration. 

The Airservices Australia trainees remotely studied ICAO 051 ATS Licensing Subjects for 10 weeks via Airways International’s AKO virtual academy, before travelling to New Zealand in March 2024 for face-to-face training. The real-world TotalControl simulator was their classroom, where they studied ICAO 052 Aerodrome Control and ICAO 053 Approach Control Procedural. As part of the training agreement, the students have also completed the New Zealand Diploma in Air Traffic Services with strands in Aerodrome Control and Approach Control Procedural (Level 6). 

Sharon Cooke, Airways International CEO, commented: “We congratulate this cohort of students for graduating from their ATC training with us. We’re delighted to be collaborating with Airservices Australia to bring ATC students across to our facilities in New Zealand for training, and we look forward to welcoming further cohorts during what we hope will be an enduring partnership.” 

Marcus Knauer, Airservices Head of Operational Training and Resourcing, says the training partnership is one way the organisation is ramping up its onboarding of ATCs to improve staff availability and ensure consistently high service levels for Australia’s aviation sector.“This training collaboration utilising AIL’s world-class training services supplements our own training program and allows us to increase the throughput of new trainees,” Mr Knauer says. 

Airways International and Airservices Australia celebrated the cohort’s graduation on Thursday 1 August, with the students attending a ceremony in Christchurch. The trainees will now return to Melbourne for additional training before completing final field training at their new ATC locations amongst 29 of Australia’s busiest airports, as they work towards gaining their first rating. 

Airways International is a certified training provider, delivering world-class training services to Airways New Zealand and other air navigation service providers globally for over 30 years.