Pichler questions bosses
working from LA, London
Fiji Airways managing director/chief executive Stefan Pichler explaining the five-year plan at the recent press conferenced.
By JYOTI PRATIBHA
Fiji Airways has terminated 10 long-term consultants, an exercise undertaken after developing its five-year strategy.
In a bid to employ more locals and the right people most effectively, managing director/chief executive Stefan Pichler said they made a series of changes.
“We have replaced the General Manager IT (information technology), who was based in London, with a local General Manager based here in Nadi,” Mr Pichler said.
“You can’t be head of our IT in a 12-hour different time zone and try to manage without having face-to-face contact with your team.
“We also got rid of the expat Airline Programme executive general manager because this role basically had nothing to contribute to our business.
“We restructured operations and replaced two expat GMs (general managers), accountable for our Guest Services and the worldwide Ground Operations by one Manager heading both functions.
“The outgoing General Manager Ground Operations is someone doing this job from Los Angeles, and this cannot work either.
“You can’t run all our airports, and most of the work is in Nadi and Suva, if you live in Los Angeles and hop over to Fiji for one day a month.
“In this context, we have also replaced the American expat Head of Safety and Security with a local and very talented manager.
“We still have some changes to come through in the Commercial area. So, it is an ongoing process.”
In earlier interviews, Mr Pichler had made it clear he was not in the favour of hiring expatriates and consultants when qualified locals can do the job.
He also questioned the number of consultants being employed.
But first, he said, the airline had to develop its five-year strategy.
Mr Pichler said: “After this was done, we had to ask ourselves which structure, means which positions and processes do we need to achieve the strategy.
“So, for example, if you want to upgrade your product you need some manager who is accountable for it.
“Then, as the last and ongoing step, we were looking for the right people to cover those roles. And, in this context, I was also looking for mid-term and long-term localisation options.
“So, it is a decision which starts with the strategy, then moves onto the organisational structure, and finally to the managers.”
Getting our pilots back
The national carrier has been receiving a high number of applications for pilot posts. Mr Pichler said they will pick the right people and there would be no compromises in standards.
“We are just discussing the need to do a road show in UAE (United Arab Emirates) and maybe PNG (Papua New Guinea) to present ourselves as an attractive employer to those pilots who work in other countries.”
Fiji Airways, operating then as Air Pacific, had regularly lost local pilots to airlines in areas like the Middle East. Mr Pichler plans to move the airline from its current two-thirds expatriate pilots to two-thirds local pilots by 2017.
He said: “Currently, we are swamped by applications, which is great. But, we have to maintain highest safety and security standards, so we have to pick the right candidates. Zero tolerance and no compromises.
“Out of all those applications we currently get, we take 5-10 per cent for further evaluation and assessments. So, we have to work hard to get to our desired two-thirds local pilot target in 2017. But, we will get there.”