The first time I heard about Covid-19 was at the end of January 2020, at a Pizzeria in Corvara, a little town in the Dolomites. After a whole day skiing and drinking Bombardinos, a friend of mine joked about how the Chinese government was building a bunch of hospital to cater for a new virus that was spreading around like wildfire – nobody took it seriously.
Fast forward 3 weeks – I was sat in taxi in Dublin at 1 am on my way to my hotel. I was getting anxious as I had to be up at 8 am to get to class by 9 am for the first lecture at the Law Society of Ireland. The driver turned to me and asked if I was in any way concerned about this Coronavirus ‘thing’. I giggled and assured him there was nothing to worry about.
Well, turns out, I was wrong.
On Thursday 12th March 2020, the company I worked for initiated their work-from-home mandate. Almost overnight, the company’s fleet of 60+ aircraft was effectively grounded. Understandably, they announced a 20% pay decrease until they saw some form of improvement in their cash flow. The world was effectively shut down, aviation was at a standstill. My wife was 8 months pregnant, the future never looked more uncertain – I have never been so scared in my life.
On 18th April 2020 at 10:35 am our baby boy, Jack was born.
I consider myself as one of the aviation industry’s lucky ones – I worked for VistaJet, a very successful business jet operator. Throughout the worst periods of the pandemic, senior management was in constant communication with all staff members. Through weekly/monthly Zoom and Teams meetings, they shared as much information as possible with us. They gave the employees a reason to keep working hard as everyone was fighting the same battle. Sure enough, after 3 months we all returned to full pay, business was picking up.
Unlike commercial aviation, the pandemic had a very positive impact on the business aviation industry. One aspect that really interested me was the fact that Covid-19 opened the door for BizJet operators to tap into a new market of high net worth individuals who never thought they would need/want to fly on a business jets. I would love to elaborate futher on the effects of Covid-19 on business aviation but it is not the scope of this blog.
I no longer work for VistaJet. I switched company because they could not offer me the role progression that I was looking for at that point in my career. Having said that, I have nothing but praise and admiration for that organization, The 2 years I spent at VistaJet were invaluable to me:
- I learnt the true importance of communication and team work.
- I saw the art of execution being carried out on a daily basis (VistaJet senior management really drilled their staff on the concept of execution). This is something that I had never really been exposed to. The continued emphasis on execution is one of the biggest lessons I took from my time there.
- Process perfection was integral to the successful operation of the company. Accurately documenting that process was as important as it’s implementation.
- It was always about the fine, smaller details. That truly is the difference between good and great.
VistaJet continually strive for perfection in everything they do.
Today, the aviation industry is on the mend. This pandemic showed the world how fragile our lives really are. It also showed how resilient and adaptive we need to be to survive. The last 2 years could be considered as garbage; but if you have the courage to dig through that pile of rubbish, there is a good chance that you may find gold. Looking back on it now, I was exposed to situations that, without the pandemic, I may never have experienced – hence lessons I may never have learnt. As an added bonus, during this time I also got a diploma in aviation leasing and finance from the Law Society of Ireland.
My gold is that I became a father of two healthy boys. As cut-off and self-sufficient the pandemic forced us to be; everyday I woke up and slept next to the woman I love and my little baby boys.
