AIN’s Winter 2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit (CALS) brought together business aviation thought leaders to examine and discuss some of our industry’s pressing issues. The session’s topics included employee retention, maintenance, training, hiring/DEI, legal concerns, generational differences, compensation, and sustainability.
To ensure that their flight department can consistently provide the flexibility, safety, and security that operators demand, flight department managers face many more challenges than in the past.
The CALS attendees identified four critical areas that flight department leaders are dealing with today: recruitment and retention, avoiding morale issues, pay and benefits, and strengthening leadership.
A High-end Version of Finders, Keepers
With the airlines and other operators increasingly poaching our talent, flight department managers are under increased pressure to find, train, and retain the right people—with right being the operative word.
“One big issue we see is attracting the right talent with enough hours and with ratings in the aircraft being operated by the company,” a business aviation recruiter says. “Often, the solution is hiring pilots with lower hours and then investing in getting them qualified. It’s easier to teach new habits than try to fix bad ones.”
As a chief pilot adds, however, it’s not always an easy fix. “You still need to get them trained, and it’s hard even to get those training slots today,” she says. “So now you have a pilot on the payroll who can’t fly the airplane.”
That’s why so much of the talent poaching is actually coming from the private/corporate side and not from the airlines.
“More often, pilots are switching to another company or a wealthy family or individual,” the recruiter says. “Those jobs sound more glamorous, but they’re typically a recipe for burnout or boredom.”
So, what’s your solution? Well, the easy answer is to pay more than the competition. But be careful. As one flight department manager warned, “Do not hire new pilots with salaries above those of your current team. If you do, be prepared for the fallout.”
Loose Lips Sink Flight Departments
It’s not uncommon for an employer to “forbid” employees from discussing their salary and benefits package. Yeah, like that’s going to stop it.
“Keeping morale high within a department is hard, especially if the director or chief pilot is not able to fly along with everyone else,” a flight department manager says. “Pilots start talking, and that can quickly drag morale down. That’s why the head of the department needs to stay in sync with what the crews are feeling and thinking.”
Of course, in today’s world, gossip doesn’t stop at the company water cooler. Social media is a breeding ground for all kinds of good and bad information. You need to be aware of what’s being thought and said to help keep the rumor mill from getting out of control.
How do you do that? Well, as one expert on employee relations says, “In most situations, it’s best to ask them,” she says. “In larger flight departments, do an anonymous survey. Just make sure that you are the only one with access to their answers.”
According to our attendees, it’s often the little things that snowball. Issues can arise when blanket employee rules can’t be reasonably applied to the flight department.
Managers need to be aware of how their company’s rules impact the individuals in their flight department and take steps to rectify situations before they’re forced to look for replacements.
The Flight Department Isn’t Run Like the Mailroom
In fact, balancing the company policies and procedures with the flight department’s unique operational environment is often one of the manager’s most important and difficult tasks. Regarding off-days, comp time, bonuses, raises, and the like, what works at headquarters doesn’t always fly well with the team in the hangar.
As one senior manager says, “Sometimes there’s a disconnect between the flight department and the larger corporate governance, and there’s lots of red tape that makes it hard for the director to get resources quickly to raise salaries or keep the team happy in other ways.”
And, while raises are always appreciated, sometimes the red tape makes them difficult to hand out as often as we’d like. But usually, people would react better to something other than money. More time off, for example.
“Focus on creating clear and dependable schedules and days off or multiple days off in a row,” a chief pilot suggests. “Think through how to schedule your crews so they can plan their lives. Also, use contract pilots as much as possible to keep your salaried pilots happy. Bake this into the budget.”
And it’s not only the pilots you need to satisfy. To that end, think outside the toolbox and offer your A&Ps more flexibility, especially when the aircraft are away from home. And speaking of toolboxes, a nice thing you can do is give each mechanic his or her own set of tools or a prepaid Snap-on card.
Also, an overwhelming sentiment among the CALS attendees was, “Don’t overlook the need to include the team’s spouses in your plans.” It makes sense. The spouses need to know and feel comfortable with each other. Their significant others spend a lot of time with the other crewmembers, and it’s good that everyone knows each other.
They’re Called ‘Leaders’ for a Reason
Getting to know all your team members as people, not just as employees, is vital to a smooth operation. Admittedly, even with a small flight department, that takes a lot of effort.
But it’s critical for success, and it all starts with the department having a strong relationship with the boss. Communication from the hangar to the C-suite is key at every step. Unfortunately, sometimes it takes a major event like having to charter a jet because you are short a pilot to get the right person’s attention.
No one in the flight department wants to be in that situation ever. There’s little room for excuses when you’re in charge of millions of dollars’ worth of assets, and they’re useless. That’s why, as the group’s leader, you have to be proactive in staying in touch with your team and ahead of any issues.
Another point shared by a chief pilot is something all of us need to take to heart: “Don’t ask anyone in the department to do something that you would not do yourself,” he says. “Model the behavior you want to see. Don’t wait until a high-value asset like a pilot or A&P leaves to realize something needs to be corrected.”