Airservices Australia was proud to support the recent attendance of Horn Island Regional Airport staff to the Australian Airports Association (AAA) National Conference through its regional scholarship program.

The scholarship, which is one of four available to regional airports, is provided to support regional aerodrome staff who otherwise would not have the opportunity to attend.

Horn Island Airport Manager Vincent Tuhega accepted the scholarship from Airservices Customer Engagement Manager, Elissa Keenan, who also facilitated an introduction with Vincent and Airservices Deputy Chair, Air Chief Marshal Mark Binskin, AC (Ret’d) during the conference on 21 November on the Gold Coast.

Vincent will gain valuable knowledge and insights from the conference by learning about airport best practices, what other airports around the country are doing and seeing extra products and services available to Australian airports. For a very remote airport, such as Horn Island which sees over 90,000 passengers and 17,000 flights annually, attending the AAA conference enables Vincent to bring his learnings back to his small team of 12.

From this scholarship, Vincent was also able to have the Horn Island Airports Development Coordinator to attend the conference, something that may not have happened without this scholarship as it is difficult for such a remote airport.

Airservices is committed to providing ongoing support and promotion of the aviation industry through programs like this.