Managing Safety, Distraction and the Future?

Wow, life has certainly been a roller coaster over the last 6 months! Joining the amazing team at Thomas Cook on the 1st May was brilliant, exciting yet daunting. So much expectation and so much potential across the whole Group of 5 airlines that was just waiting to be launched.  What was clear from the start was the energy and passion of the people around me, keen to make a difference and help improve the way we managed safety together.

Getting out and about the teams in Frankfurt, Copenhagen and Palma de Mallorca was brilliant, seeing a shared desire to get better not only within the Safety teams, but right across the airlines. Improving the way compliance and risk was viewed; leading the culture; building the trust; sharing the thinking; and engaging everyone in their role in delivering safe operations; all the key elements and right at the heart of the getting people to and from their holidays safely. Building a simple safety strategy to help bring about these improvements was key, and a meaty challenge to get stuck into, to lead the team.

May was also the start of the Summer season, with the associated operational pressures, Air Traffic issues, busy airports and so on. Combined with the ‘Strategic Review’ which was looking to sell off the Airlines Group, and the subsequent Re-capitalisation, there was lots going on for sure, so day to day, operational safety issues also needed energy and passion. Distraction was a real threat; we kept asking ourselves ‘were the teams delivering the operation safely day in, day out, being given the help and support they needed to keep their focus?’ Were we helping the teams get it right, were we giving them enough information, being open and honest with them? Keeping the focus balanced between the strategic and operational was essential, and it was impressive to see the whole team openly question and challenge, to act as each other consciences, to check and balance. We kept asking ourselves these questions throughout the summer months.

And then the shock! Lots will be written I am sure over the coming weeks and months about the financial and corporate perspective, by people who know far more than me, but to be able to get everyone - customers, crews and supporting elements – home safely when there was so much uncertainty, so much emotion and so much fear speak volumes. It was always going to difficult, but the efforts put in, people working for over 24 hrs straight to fix problems as they arose was simply phenomenal. Listening to the conversations and phone calls; the care, the compassion, the determination shown, really highlighted the family that is Thomas Cook. They say that adversity brings out the best in people – I think it brought out the best not only in all the ‘Cook-ies’ but across our whole aviation community.

So, the future then? 

To all those amazing people and teams I had the honour of joining for a short, exciting and totally fulfilling time; – you will smash it, and continue to soar! Thank you for teaching me something new every day, I would work alongside every single one of you again tomorrow.

To those ‘Cook-ies’ and ‘Condors’ still flying; may you keep yourselves together and keep looking out for one another.

To the next challenge; bring it on! Safety is a profession and a passion[1], caring about others and helping them do what they do every day – safer and better.

[1] With no apologies, thank you Keven Baines!