Doing Business in America

Working in MENA one tends to deal with international companies in general. Companies that have staff familiar with the region. So relocating to the USA and attempting to start an "aviation related" business is a totally different experience. For starters, the majority of the aviation related small and medium enterprises (SME) are oblivious to an international market and are not interested in one. Fair enough, the USA is a huge market, who needs the rest of the world. That in itself is not a problem.

Being new in the region I relied extensively on LinkedIn to develop contacts and leads and to look at potential jobs. The majority of SMEs would not even acknowledge an email, a few would answer in a few weeks and a small number would respond within forty eight hours. 

The most popular response is; we are growing the business and we have no openings or projects at this time however we have a finder fee policy for any business you may bring. I understand times are tough and the market is stagnant but to be unwilling to explore opportunities and open a dialog on how to grow the business is beyond me. How can anyone grow a business without communicating, without telling the market place what are they doing and where they want to go? 

There is nothing wrong with finder fees; but to recommend and refer a business lead, one needs to understand that business and what differentiates it from the others. These businesses need to explore what adds value to their product and how to improve it. This requires communication, a commodity that seems to be in short supply in the aviation SME community. It appears no one is willing to invest time in growing their business.

These are first impressions and as I gain experience things may look different. 

Failure To Communicate

The weather has not been very good in Abu Dhabi in the last few days and it wreaked havoc with Etihad Airway's schedule with delays and cancellations.Happens, mother nature can be capricious if not outright bitchy sometimes.

Airlines do their best to cope. These days the use everything they can get their hands on to ease the impact of the disruption on their passengers. Not Etihad, it seems they never heard of the word "COMMUNICATE".

They can figure out ways to expand their network or provide additional services on board or on the ground. What they have failed to grasp is the need to advise their passengers of how their flights have been affected.

A quick look at their Facebook page shows several comments by passengers complaining about extensive delays but not a single entry by Etihad explaining or apologizing. These comments were later deleted. Their website is business as usual. I tried to check in on the website for my Jeddah flight back to Abu Dhabi and all I got was a message "your flight is not open for check in". 

I never got a message from them informing me there is a delay and the website did not have any message regarding these disruptions. Basically a massive failure to communicate coupled with an inadequate Emergency Response Plan (ERP). ERP is not about crashes and accidents it is also about massive disruptions and how to recover.

In all fairness the airport staff in Jeddah, were at hand and interlined some connecting passengers with other airlines to their final destinations and offered the remaining passengers food and refreshments. 

However, Etihad as an organization did not rise to the occasion and failed dismally. If you want to be credible you have to perform. All these awards don't mean a thing to passengers stranded for 9 or 10 or 11 hours. They only prove that when you have good PR you can get any award you want. 

Etihad should look at their Response Planning and how to embrace the available means to minimize disruptions and keep passengers engaged and happy.

The Communication Gap

Ever since Mr. Steven Slater made his spectacular exit, the  relationship between passengers and Flight Attendants (FA) has come under scrutiny, but precious little has been done about it. Well, The Crew Lounge a podcast hosted by two FAs Sara Keagle and Bobby Laurie that discusses current industry news, listeners' questions and other related topics are now on Daytime TV Show with a mission statement;


To bridge the communication gap between flight attendants and their passengers and therefore create a more pleasant inflight experience for everyone.


Indeed, life at 40,000 feet has changed especially since 9/11 in terms of security requirements and the rapid development of technology related to mobility and connectivity (mobiles and other related hi tech gadgets). 


Flying is a stressful experience for a lot of people, add to this long lines at security check points, new rules about the carriage of liquids, new rules about baggage and carry on luggage and you have frayed nerves. 
On the other hand you have the FAs, who not only have to cope with ensuring that the aircraft safety and security requirements are met, but with a few other unpopular tasks (restricted movement in the cabin and of course the infamous switch your mobile off for take off among others) and ensuring that the cabin is secured for an on time departure.


The industry as a whole have failed in the last few years to reach out to passengers and explain how things have changed and most importantly the implications of these changes. If your mobile is switched on during take off you are basically putting your life and everyone else in danger because of interference with electronic equipment or jokes about security, bombs etc. can cause aircraft diversions and can land one in trouble and indeed in a foreign jail. There is no time during the pre take off briefing to explain all this. This is something that has to be done systematically outside an aircraft.


Aviation is such that any small incident will be reported by the media and most of the time blown out of proportion. And while not all passengers and FAs are angels or devils, there will always be the odd incident that will hit the news big time to remind us that there is a communication gap that we need to bridge, each in his own way and capacity.


Kudos Sara and Bobby for taking the effort to bridge the gap.