Page 38 - AAA JANUARY- FEBRUARY 2013 Online Magazine

PROFILE

THAT’S ME

Laurent Negre works for turboprop What’s your best/scariest moment in an aircraft?
maker ATR as President, ATR Eastern My family and I recently went to the Maldives, and took a Twin
Otter seaplane ride from the seaplane dock there. It was
Support. Since he was a boy he has loved astonishing; really close to what the original days of aviation
flying, and has converted his passion must have been like. Low over the water and so close to
into support work for the ATR series of everything. Brilliant.
passenger aircraft, which he says are How do you think the industry will develop in Asia?
the best planes on the planet for the Asia is set to drive the growth of aviation. I think we will see some
Southeast Asian market! consolidation, especially with major Asian players becoming
dominant over Western carriers. And Asia will continue to
develop in the passenger service aspects too.
How long have you been in the industry, and how did you start?
I did an internship with ATR way back in 1994, so that’s nearly 20 What’s the single biggest advance you’ve seen in the industry?
years now. After I finished my aeronautical engineering degree, I’d say two. First Open Skies, and second the convenience
I went to work at ATR on customer support data collection. After and simplicity of passenger handling – things like e-tickets,
that I was lucky enough to go to Washington in the US for two automatic luggage handling, seat allocation and so on.
years. It was a great experience, and I still love working on the
operations side of the aviation industry.
How do you see innovation developing across the region?
Asia will rapidly develop its technical capabilities, and
What is the best thing about working in Asia? aeronautics skills. MO will also grow rapidly, and manufacturing
Asia’s big appeals are the diversity and the dynamism it in the home markets – take Singapore for example – will
has. Europe often sees Asia in a very simplified way, but the increase. Big growth will happen in Indonesia, Malaysia (for
culture, the dynamics and the economies are all much more turbojets) but I think that will take a while longer in China.
complex and different.

What’s the best thing about your job?
I love working with such a wide range of customers, with a
multicultural team, in what is a key region for ATR. It’s fantastic
– and we now contribute 50% of worldwide sales which makes
us a strategic market too.

Europe often sees Asia in a very Laurent Negre was born near Toulouse, and graduated
from Toulouse-based National Civil Aviation School (ENAC)
simplified way, but the culture, the in 1994 as an aeronautics engineer. He worked in France,
dynamics and the economies are all Australia, Scandinavia and the US before arriving in
Singapore. The proud owner of a PPL certificate, he was
much more complex and different appointed President of ATR Eastern Support Pte Ltd, ATR’s
Customer Support centre for the whole of Asia Pacific.

38 ASIAN AIRLINES & AIRPORTS JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2013 WWW.ASIANAIRLINES-AIRPORTS.COM