One thing I would suggest before you decide what subject to study at uni is get your Class One Medical. If you spend 3 or 4 years getting a degree in Airline Management or similar subject and then fail the medical, you could end up watching others do your dream job every day and that’s only if you get a job in the industry.
I currently work in Human Resources and do a considerable amount of recruitment for management roles. One thing we consider is a person’s motivation for a job, and believe it or not, aviation management has very little to do with flying and aircraft so you may find they take a dim view of someone whose main motivation is “I want to be a pilot”. Many airlines will rightly think, why should I spend time and cash training this person when he or she is likely to jack it in once they have a bit of cash for their ATPL.
Don’t get me wrong, Airline Management graduates will have covered most aspects of a general management degree and are just as capable as a person with a degree in pure management, but in today’s tough graduate market, you want to be a marketable as possible.
Also, before I get any abuse, pilots can and do make excellent managers but this is generally once they’ve got the experience together with a good academic base. At this stage they are able to provide both experience and knowledge to situations which the poor desk bound staffers don’t have.
Cheers
Go_Solo