Gateway to High-Flying Career for Green Bay Student

Gateway to a High-Flying Career

An ambitious Year 12 student from Auckland’s Green Bay High School has won a valuable scholarship to help propel him towards his goal of becoming an airline pilot.

Earlier this year, 17-year-old Luke Williams managed to get a place on the highly sought-after ServiceIQ Aviation Gateway programme and leapt at the chance to take his first flying lessons.

The exhilarating experience only fuelled his ambition even more says Luke, “I’ve caught the aviation bug.”

Judged top achiever on Aviation Gateway, Luke has been named the recipient of the 2018 ServiceIQ Flying NZ Scholarship.

The scholarship gives him $2000 towards flight training. First, he wants to gain his Private Pilot Licence at his local aero club. Then, he plans to go on to flight school to complete his commercial training and eventually join an airline as a pilot.

“Winning the scholarship gives me the financial support to continue my flight training,” says Luke.

Ever since he was a child sightseer, enjoying the thrill of air shows and travelling about on aeroplanes, his dream has been to pilot a jet airliner around the world enjoying the “best office view ever”.

Fiercely determined to turn his dream into a reality, the hard worker had a part-time job while he was at school, and next year he’s scored a role in ground operations at Auckland Airport.

Completing ServiceIQ Aviation Gateway opened-up an exciting world with vast career possibilities from take-off to touch-down, in the air and on the ground, says Luke.

“Gateway showed me how far aviation can take me as long as I am willing to work hard and to go the extra mile.

“It gave me theoretical and practical flying experience and has shown me how the comprehensive network of staff and teams drive the industry. I was thrilled to meet other pilots and student pilots, all with a common passion for aviation and who are willing to share their flying experiences.”

A self-confessed “driven person”, he was student leader at primary and intermediate schools, Best Cadet for ATC, Top Academic Year boy, and deputy captain of his club football team.

So far, he has built-up four hours of flight training from the opportunities he received through ServiceIQ Gateway and North Shore Aero Club’s Young Eagles programme.

The high-achiever is stepping into a strong growth industry with many opportunities to build a satisfying career. It’s estimated that nearly 5,000 new workers will be needed in the aviation sector between 2017 and 2021 to meet new job growth and replacement demand, according to research by Infometrics.

ServiceIQ’s Aviation Gateway training is a proven way for students to discover the wide range of exciting roles offered by the aviation industry and the chance to kick-start a career.

If the passion is to be a pilot, this first-time flying experience helps students gain acceptance into full-time flight training when they leave school.

As New Zealand’s official Industry Training Organisation for the aviation industry, ServiceIQ sets the standards for the industry and develops the on-job qualification training programmes and apprenticeships for a huge range of roles for men and women - from aircraft engineers, pilots, air traffic controllers, flight attendants, and check-in agents to aircraft loaders, aircraft cleaners, to aeronautical store keepers, aircraft maintenance engineers, airport operations staff and many more.

You can find out more about career opportunities in aviation and other service sectors in the free Service Career Kick-Starter magazine at www.ServiceIQ.org.nz/kick-start

ENDS

ServiceIQ is the industry training organisation (ITO) for the aviation, hospitality, retail and retail supply chain, travel, tourism and museums sectors.

We’re all about empowering and motivating people to provide great service. This helps businesses remain competitive and New Zealand to be internationally recognised as a great place to live or visit. It also gives people working in our industries valuable skills and knowledge along with nationally recognised qualifications.

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