Jack Smith, who hopes to become a jet pilot once he completes his studies at UNSW in Canberra, said he was always interested in paper planes but had done little to prepare for the event that he won.

"When I found out the Red Bull Paper Wings competition was coming to UNSW I just thought I'd give it a go and see what it was all about," he said.

"It was just a bit of fun and I didn't really have any high expectations and wanted to give it a shot."

Mr Smith said he was delighted by the opportunity visit Austria for the world finals but said he may not have prepared as passionately as some of his competitors from 76 nations.

He said the secret to building a successful paper plane was to have a wide rectangular base to catch air and keep the plane elevated.

"There were three separate events in the competition with participants judged by their length of flight-time, distance, and acrobatics," he said.

"I entered the first two categories and managed to clinch the title when my plane hung around for 9.3 seconds."

Each competition was held indoors to remove any wind advantage and all planes were folded with an A4 piece of paper. All planes were built on site and ripping, cutting, stapling and gluing were strictly prohibited.

Mr Smith's effort of 9.3 seconds was not far off the world record of 10.68 seconds set by Lebanon's Elie Chemaly in 2012.

There were 21 competitions held in universities across the country and Mr Smith's record needed to stand for only five rounds before he won his ticket to Austria.

Mr Smith said he had always had an interest in aviation but his career ambition of becoming a jet fighter gave him no competitive edge over his competitors.

Mr Smith will join Arun Neelakandan and Sonat Erozen from the University of Sydney at the Salzburg event on May 9.

Mr Neelakandan won the long distance category with a flight of 40.97 metres, which fell short of the 50.37-metre record set by Tomas Beck, a professional golfer from Czech Republic.

"The people running the event, the people competing, the people spectating were all very friendly and supportive – a great sight and experience," he said.

Mr Erozen, who already has a pilot licence, won the acrobatics category and said he had been passionate about planes since childhood.

The international finals will be judged by former Red Bull Paper Wings champions.