Australian ATC Students Bound For NZ Shores

Airways International, the commercial arm of Airways New Zealand will shortly be training air traffic controllers from Australia in its Christchurch training facilities, as part of a contract with Airservices Australia.

The Australian air navigation service provider has partnered with Airways International to send an initial cohort of six trainees to Christchurch for air traffic control (ATC) training, following 10 weeks of online training via Airways International’s AKO virtual academy.

This cohort of ATC trainees signals the beginning of what’s expected to be an ongoing partnership between Airways International and Airservices Australia – with potential future cohorts also expected to travel to New Zealand for training.

The trainees will study ICAO 051 ATS Licensing Subjects remotely via Airways International’s AKO virtual academy while remaining in Australia and will travel to Christchurch for ICAO 052 Aerodrome Control and ICAO 053 Approach Control Procedural – undertaking practical training in the real-world TotalControl simulator. The students will be in New Zealand for about five months from March 2024.

Sharon Cooke, Airways International CEO says the partnership enables Airservices Australia’s ATC students to benefit from Airways International’s globally recognised ATC training programme, and its competency-based training framework.

“We’re delighted to be collaborating with Airservices Australia to bring their ATC students to our facilities in New Zealand for training, and to be fostering further connection between our organisations. This partnership is well placed for success over the coming years,” Ms Cooke says.

Michelle Bennetts, Airservices Australia Chief Service Delivery Officer, says the air navigation safety provider was proud to partner with Airways International.

“Airways will be delivering a Tower course to Airservices’ next cohort of air traffic control trainees commencing in December 2023,” Ms Bennetts said.

“This is very exciting as we look at opportunities to evolve how we deliver our training to our people, and allows Airservices to bolster its safe and efficient management of 11 per cent of the world’s airspace.”

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