A different kind of aviation event!
Last week, I volunteered with The Air League at the UWL Tourism Careers Fair. I volunteer at a aviation events for the Air League. Most of the time you’re talking to people who already know they want to work in aviation — they’ve done their research, they’ve got specific questions, you’re just helping them figure out the next step. This fair was very differnet!
The students there were mostly studying hospitality, tourism or events management. Aviation wasn’t really on their radar. So instead of answering questions, I was having much more open conversations — what do you want from a career, what kind of environment do you want to work in, have you ever thought about what the aviation industry actually offers beyond just flying? I quite enjoyed it because it was a little different!
Flying with a purpose.
What I didn’t expect was how much I’d get from talking to the other exhibitors. There were hotel groups there, leisure brands, visitor attractions — and the way they talked about their work was really inspiring. A lot of it came back to the same thing: how do you make someone feel like their experience actually mattered? Not just good service, but the kind of thing people remember.
It made me think about aviation differently for a moment. We’re more than just pilots who carry people from A to B. We’re part of someone’s dream experience. We create some genuinely significant moments in people’s lives. It really inspires me to fly with a purpose. I remember going on holiday and pilots inviting me into the cockpit – It’s still stuck with me. I hope to be that kind of pilot one day – I find that quite rewarding actually. But overall, it was a great event – I definitely learnt a lot through the exhibitors and their passion for what they do!
