This is new for me and I appreciate the opportunity to share some thoughts on aviation and networking. I’ve been involved in commercial aviation for about 10 years, part of a 25 year logistics background that includes trucking, distribution, and Navy cargo. Everything but rail, and lo and behold, I land in UP country! From my seat, I’ve watched these components come together to form Supply Chain Logistics.  Even so, each piece has its own unique culture and the one used by most of us is aviation.

Aviation managers are cursed by a love for their business that makes them unavailable to network with others like them. We struggle with issues in isolation, when the common thread between us is the size of a 3-inch rope. We do not have stable forums at which we can share these issues in any detail, mainly due to time constraints and the fact that most of us are working a line in our operation. Problems become systemic and the manager burns out. The turnover at the mid-manager level is undocumented but by anecdote is higher than other logistics industries.

LinkedIn and especially LIO, have given me a social platform on which to stand and take a look at others across my specialty, but also meet with folks who buy my inventory (plane tickets) to conduct their business. I have had nothing but good experiences since joining up.

“Above & Below the Wing” is the title of a project I’ve been working on for 2 years. Every time I think I’ve captured all the variables in my thesis, something like $105 oil forces a rewrite. What I want folks to know is that it isn’t high fuel costs that threaten air travel. Travelers have shown they’ll ante up for their freedom to “move about the country” whatever their mode of transport. It’s employees - or rather the lack of them - that will materially change the way the airlines do business.Field-level employees, the agents at the ticket counter and the ones schlepping your bags, are wearing out faster than ever and there are fewer willing and qualified replacements from the diminishing demographic of 18-30 year-olds. Those young people have infinitely more options available to them that don’t require working in weather extremes or trying to meet ever-higher passenger expectations with less resources. Security background checks and pre-employment drug tests shrink the pool even further.

The Greater Omaha area has a 3.2% unemployment rate and has had for 7 months. That’s about 31,000 people a month unemployed. In our business, we refer to them as the “unemployable”. Out of 10 applicants, 3 will pass the background and drug tests and 2 will wash out in 90 days. Basic training for above wing agents is 80 hours classroom and another 3 months OJT. Under wing agents get 40 hours and 30 days. As you can see, the ratios don’t favor continuity. It’s like this no matter the air carrier or service provider. Aviation is not the glamour gig it once was but the handling of passengers and aircraft servicing have changed very little, still requiring a minimum staff level which is harder to maintain month-to-month.

There may come a day in the near future when we account for flight delays with a new category: No staff to meet the plane. JH

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