Page 38 - AAA NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2012 Online Magazine

PROFILE

THAT’S ME

Sarah Williamson is unusual – a woman
in a male-dominated business. Surprised
by how long she has survived in the
business, she blames the people she
works with and the seductive atmosphere
of aviation for keeping her glued to the
General Manager’s seat at Mount Cook
Airlines in New Zealand.

How long have you been in the industry?
I have been in the industry for 13 years this month. It’s a long
stretch for someone who didn’t think they would ever do 10 years!

How and why did you choose the aviation industry?
If you like the pace of change and having to work hard to turn a
dollar it’s a seductive place to be. It’s a business that operates
24 hours a day, 365 days of a year with low margins, and at the
mercy of costs outside your immediate control, namely fuel and
foreign exchange. But the level of innovation and change for our
customers and in operations in the industry in the last 10 years
has been phenomenal.

What’s the best thing about your job? What’s the single biggest advance you’ve seen since you’ve
Always the people. We have an incredibly focused and talented been in aviation?
leadership team, and there isn’t one of the team that doesn’t The customer journey. That includes internet ticket sales and
want our company to thrive. You can see it in the everyday things remote check in. When I first started in the airline business
people do, not the momentous events, but the day in, day out paper tickets were a sure bet and online tickets made you
focus on getting travellers where they need to be. nervous – now it’s the other way round. Another thing is
satellite navigation. It will change the way aircraft are
What are the strengths women bring to the industry? designed and built, will change the practices for hiring and
I don’t think it is about strengths that women bring to the industry, training pilots, change the way we fly the aircraft, and change
I think it’s about the diversity of your team, representing the the processes for management of aircraft traffic at airports.
diversity of the customer base. Customers care about products, There’s no part of the airline business that it doesn’t touch.
not companies, and you need to make decisions about products
with a team that’s as diverse as the people buying the products. If you could say/ask one thing to Orville and Wilbur, what would
it be?
How do you think aviation manufacturing will develop in The Wright brothers set up an airfield in a cow paddock so that
the world/Asia? they didn’t have to cart the machines too far. I would say to them:
Ongoing and increasing pressure on fuel efficiency and stay in the airport business!
minimising carbon emissions, probably. When both the
purchasers of the aircraft and the end users are making choices
based on environmental outcomes, there will be pressure on
manufacturers to delivery improvements.

What’s your best/scariest moment in a plane? During take-off and landings
I don’t have scary moments in planes. The best moment for me
has to be the take-off and landings into Queenstown Airport into Queenstown Airport on
on the South Island of New Zealand. You are so close to the South Island, you are so close
mountains it seems you could touch the skiers in winter and the to the mountains it seems
tussocks in summer. Plus, we are about to take delivery of our
first new ATR 72-600 and the livery is all black, so seeing that you could touch the skiers
come out of the factory might be a heart-stopping moment!
38 ASIAN AIRLINES & AIRPORTS NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2012 WWW.ASIANAIRLINES-AIRPORTS.COM