SVP, Group Charter UK & RoW
"I joined Air Partner over 25 years ago and still come to work with a smile on my face, I love what I do."
I joined the company in 1998 before we were called Air Partner. At that time, we were known as Air London and were based in Platinum House on the Manor Royal. I was familiar with the Gatwick area as I had moved down this way to study for a City & Guilds in Aviation Studies.
I grew up in Essex and had always wanted a career in the airline industry - East Surrey College was the closest place I could gain a qualification to set me up for this so I moved to Redhill when I was 16 and lived there during the week so that I could attend that particular course.
After the administration of my previous company, Classic Airways, I was looking for any an opportunity to get back into aviation as quickly as possible and I saw the job advertisement for Air London who had actually been a client of Classic Airways. I submitted my CV and a hand-written covering letter (which still exists in the business today!) and the rest is history.
Initially in a broker support role within the Sub-Charter & Leasing team. My main responsibility was to research the market for available aircraft which was then published and updated internally so that the brokers knew what aircraft were available to service the ‘go-now’ ACMI requests that we would be receiving.
After a period of training, I was eventually let loose to do my own deals and build my own portfolio of airline clients. I got a real buzz from every deal I did – knowing you had a value and getting the appreciation from airlines for minimising delays to their passengers was a great feeling. I was available H24 and I actually wanted to do as much Duty as possible (when I first started, we did not have an Ops department so we had to take it in turns to divert the phones to our homes at nights and weekends).
Being new to the business, the visible commission scheme that was in place was a big motivator for me. I was taught very early on that “you get out, what you put in”. It is so true and it’s a saying I still use today!
After my time in Ops, I wanted to get back into broking 100% of the time. An opportunity arose in the Commercial Jets team to work the Government & Military business. I remained in Commercial Jets Team as a Broker and then a Senior Broker for a total of 6 years until 2008. In my time in CJ, I won some great contracts which enabled me to travel the world – I’ve been to places which I would never had had the chance to go to - including Ascension Island, Falkland Islands, Tulsa, Kenya, Brunei, Hong Kong, Liberia, Congo and Afghanistan.
My best deal was when I won a contract to supply the Australian Military with an A330 aircraft for 4 years – I sat in the flight deck for the landing in Sydney once which was an amazing experience as well as being able to enjoy the city afterwards.
In 2008, my next move was to apply for the Management Training Scheme which was a 2-year course covering all areas of the business. I completed this and went into my first management role as Trading Manager – Freight. After 3 years, I was promoted to Director – Commercial Jets.
My heart has always been with the Commercial Jets product given my broking experiences, so it was fantastic for me to be brought back to head up this product in the UK. In 2017, I was asked to take over as Trading Director to head up not just CJ, but also the PJ, JCD and Travel products within the UK too, a role which I really enjoyed.
I absolutely loved my 7 years in the Trading Director role, learning a lot and bringing some stability to the team when there was a lot of change within the business, but my passion for Commercial Jets always remained. It’s an area that I get such a huge buzz out of and so when I was asked to step into a new role as SVP Group Charter UK & Rest of World in March 2024 I jumped at the chance.
Air Partner is a great company to work for that has given me so much not just from a job satisfaction point of view, but also from a personal point of view too. It’s become part of my life after 25 years and I’m proud to say that. The passion and the thrill of winning a deal is still there – it’s a bit of a bug!
At Air Partner, you are rewarded for success and the opportunities to progress your career are there for those that consistently demonstrate the right values, behaviours, and achievements. It’s a cliché, but every day is different – the market is constantly changing. Air Partner has a strong proposition through our heritage, expertise, resource, and loyal portfolio of historic clients. ‘Customer First’ is at the heart of everything we do at Air Partner, and relationships with customers, colleagues, suppliers, an operators is a vital requirement of any role within the organisation.
You really can ’live your passion’ here and to this day, there is nothing more satisfying to me than standing next to your customer on the airfield ramp in the sunshine, looking at an aircraft that is there because of you.
