We spoke with Marcus Knauer from Airservices Australia about the opportunities for air traffic controllers and why he thinks Australia offers some of the best aviation conditions in the world.
Aviation is in the blood for Marcus Knauer. His father was an air traffic controller (ATC), and although Marcus never intended to follow in his footsteps, for 30 years Marcus has built a career in the industry he now loves. One-time Australia’s Chief ATC, Marcus has worked at the forefront of the industry in Australia and is now Head of Operational Training and Resourcing at Airservices Australia. We caught up with him to discuss the changes and challenges he sees coming, the opportunities for personal development, and why he loves the aviation industry in Australia.
“I’ve enjoyed a fabulous career here at Airservices Australia and have been afforded some incredible opportunities to stretch and develop myself. After 12 years as an ATC, I’ve had various roles across projects, training, quality, operations and service delivery transformation. In my current role, I get to bring much of that together and help deliver to the overall resourcing needs and capabilities for Airservices Australia.”
It's that kind of varied career path, stemming from his background as an ATC which is one of the things Marcus likes best about Airservices Australia and why he is encouraging of people who might wish to make the move there. “Relocating country can be daunting. There’s a lot to like about living in Australia (we’re known as the lucky country for a reason), and it’s true, the lifestyle you can have here is pretty special. But moving here because you like the beaches, the sunshine or the easy-going people is one thing – you still need to know that you’ll enjoy your job and that your career is not taking a back seat by moving here.”
Marcus is keen to stress that opportunities for personal and career development and further training are one of the real strengths of Airservices Australia. “We encourage people to keep learning and developing their skills outside of their core, technical ATC skills through continued formal training and also secondments around the business. We benefit from having more diverse and creative thinking as a result - skills and thinking which we will need to tackle the exciting future our industry is facing.”
As well as the usual challenges like incorporating the rise of vertical take-off aircraft, drones, and the increase in recreational travel post-pandemic, Australia is also undergoing exciting changes as it plans to become one of the first jurisdictions in the world to integrate a joint civil and military air traffic control system under the moniker OneSKY Australia. The new advanced integrated system will deliver more efficient air services, support future air traffic growth and is expected to deliver more than $1.2 billion of economic benefits to Australian airspace users over 20 years.
As Marcus puts it, “Australia is a big place, with huge skies and more or less perfect flying conditions. Yes, we’ve got some busy routes and the hustle of urban hubs like Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney – in fact the Melbourne to Sydney route was the 5th busiest in the world last year, but also the enormity of the space we cover, domestically and internationally. The scale and the diversity make us a great location for innovative forward-thinking and expansion.”
Airservices Australia is currently recruiting ATCs from around the world, and with changes to the Australian visa system making that easier than ever, it truly is a land of opportunity right now.
