AIRPORT LEADERSHIP
authorities, local tourism organisations and the hospitality sector, he believes, offer many opportunities to redefi ne what is considered to be economically viable.
Initiatives to bridge the gap In order to reduce dependency on subsidy and to create revenue generating projects, Lyon approached this from a number of angles. He also realised that he had to change the culture and mindset to make these happen. Firstly, he took an aggressive approach to costs. This meant looking at
all aspects of the operation and asking the fundamental question: ‘Can this be done differently, smarter?’ This meant challenging all the shibboleths, habits and practices that
had built up over the years. These were tackled using a variety of measures. He looked at
staffing levels and overheads, at suppliers, at creating synergies between customers and the airport at changing some terms and conditions, including flexible working, multi-skilling and mobility (being able to move staff to different locations depending on need/demand). Getting the fl exibility to have skilled air traffi c controllers to move more
seamlessly between airports took four years of work with the regulator. Secondly, he had to look at revenue generating schemes that were
achievable, given the location, the lack of critical mass and the asset base. He focused on a number of the airports: • Promote Inverness as a destination and build a business park campus capability using investment and joint ventures.
• Use the extensive airport land at Stornoway to develop housing and light industrial usage around the fringes.
• Build on the oil traffi c potential at Sumburgh from smaller and newer operations.
Other potential ways of raising revenues were to build on some of
the core competencies built up over the past fi ve years which have led to the creation of an entrepreneurial culture, training and development capacity in maintenance and competencies and in some of the innovative and entrepreneurial ways of dealing with the gap between expenditure and income. Thirdly, he had to significantly shift the culture to make these
work. In order to turn around an organisation you need to address some of the behaviours, mindsets and practices that may have built up over the years. Some examples of this are related to technical innovations/
changes, while others relate to changes in the people side of the organisation. Three examples of how technological change was brought about are: The de-icing project. During a typical winter the airport budgets to
spend around €1.7 million on de-icing services. The sum includes lost time due to runway ice. Looking to Scandinavia, they discovered that they were not experiencing anything like these levels of expense. A team went to Norway and came back with some very practical applications that cut costs substantially. This also reinforced the need to sometimes look outside your own organisation to see what other colleagues are doing. Investment in technology that allows all the airports to better link to
the centre and thereby contribute to technical and administrative tasks, thus skilling up staff and promoting greater fl exibility.
Fire appliances that can be more simply renewed and adapted using more mainstream bodyframes.
On the people side All managers have been trained up in how to handle absenteeism, dealing with staff directly, coaching and on fi nancial issues. Directors are participating on a ‘First in Class’ development programme which focuses on team building and leadership. HIA is the fi rst airport company in the UK that has received
accreditation and regulator approval to licence themselves for mainstream fi re training tasks. This took 15 months. Now all 11 aerodromes are self-licensed. This has saved hundreds of thousands of pounds by avoiding staff travelling to national training centres. It also presents the opportunity to potentially develop this as a service offering to other small and medium airports. HIA have also developed a revised procurement scheme
and have signifi cantly reduced the number of external suppliers. Lyon believes in constantly striving to do things better, re-examining
ways of doing things and challenging the status quo. He has the entrepreneurial mindset that is required of today’s CEOs in the sector, especially in small airports.
What does the future hold? I asked Lyon how he sees the next fi ve years. For HIA it means improving connectivity of the region. He has ideas for this which he is hoping to develop over the coming months. He is also keen to talk about joint ventures; how property could
be utilised to generate revenue; potential route expansion; and how all the stakeholders can promote and support the region and access via the airports. Above all, he believes that the airport operator will thrive if it can
generate ancillary income and pursue its continuous improvement programme in service delivery and internal excellence, which may eventually present new opportunities as income streams.
Final thoughts The experience of Lyon and HIA provides an excellent example of the entrepreneurial and business development spirit that small and medium size airports need to develop. Leadership is critical – it’s about having the courage to challenge
the accepted ways of doing things as well as looking for new and innovative ideas. On an international fl ight the following week on Malaysia Airlines I
picked up a copy of their in-fl ight magazine. A feature article was on the ‘most different airports in the world’ and, along with Funchal and other precarious landings was a fi ne picture of Barra, with the plane landing on the beach (‘the only beach airstrip in the world’). Later on the same day in a local newspaper, was a picture of Prince
Charles in a kilt promoting the growth of Scotch whisky worldwide. Where, I thought, was ‘Nessie’?
About the author Terri Morrissey and Dr Richard Plenty of ‘This Is’ have carried out a series of interviews with airport CEOs as part of their programme of developing leadership competencies for the airport sector. Email
terri@thisis.eu for more information.
AIRPORT WORLD/FEBRUARY-MARCH 2011 67 AW
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80