JC in India

I have talked in the past about how work life can sometimes be a whirlwind, and there are no more evident examples of this than during our industries route development events. Now, this is going to be admittedly less of an India focused script. However, attending such events is a key part of what I do in my role in India, and so is worthy of some dedicated writing to include in the overall presentation of life here. I have just returned from the Routes World event in Istanbul this year, so this is as good a time as any to describe such a part of my life.

Simply put my job is to get airlines to fly more flights from our airports. There is a whole world of complexity and nuance to this, with a whole range of subset responsibilities both at a strategic, senior and tactical level, but in essence it really boils down to that one mission. Obviously, there are already airlines operating from our airports, so that mission therefore splits between managing relations with the current airlines and encouraging new airlines to start services. And then from a role perspective, while that is the overall objective, it is in part delivered via the airport teams themselves who mostly manage the existing relationships and my own focus which is more on the new route development side. This means both directly engaging with target airlines and supporting and leading the airport specific teams in their discussions. It is certainly not rocket science, nor brain surgery. There are only so many airlines in this world, and only so many routes they can fly. So, the basic principles are pretty simple really, and I admire the confidence in which many consulting companies will charge heaps of cash for advising on such. Really all it takes is a good understanding of the industry and some good information to present the argument as to why such a route would work. The information is sourced via various technical subscription options, and the airport teams deal with the details of such. Where I come in is at the ‘good understanding of the industry’ level.

And thus, at a rudimentary level my value add and focus is in advising the airport teams who to speak to, how to speak to them, and what they should be saying. And then I will drive some key engagement myself, and hand to the airport teams to take forward when ready. My direct involvement is more with the international airlines as the local Indian, Indonesian and Philippines based teams (the markets we have airports in) know their domestic airlines better than me and have direct close relationships with them.

So, the job itself really is not that complicated. But in order to do it well you need to know this business backwards, and understand how airlines decide on routes, know their strategies, plans and capabilities, and also be well connected to the individuals in these airlines. And that is where I come in, and in essence what I do.

I have always believed business development needs to be done in a face-to-face environment. Virtual meetings are fine for introductions, summaries, and general updates, but to really engage and interact successfully requires you to be in the room (“where it happens, the room where it happens…”). And so that requires a lot of going to see the right people at their head offices which involves a lot of travel.

However, given the diverse international nature of this industry, a supporting business model has emerged where certain companies host events which bring the route development industry together over the course of a few days to interact in person. Occurring under one roof, in a concise time manner, makes for a very efficient way for many airline/airport meetings to occur.

The most notable company now dominating this space is ‘Routes’, which is a company that is part of a larger event/intelligence organisation (Informa). They have been running these ‘routes events’ / conferences for over twenty years now, and have gravitated to become the reputed and by far market leading organisation hosting such. There are other companies, with ‘Connect’ being a smaller more simplified equivalent focused on Europe in the main (although they have just started dipping their toes into the Americas). ‘Connect’ competes with Routes to some extent but most attendees will go to both. Additionally, there is the IATA slots conference, which while focused more on tactical scheduling has built a momentum now to also being a good meeting place for airlines/airport route development teams to discuss plans.

All this means that there are basically a small number of core events each year which occur to facilitate such interactions. Routes organise regional events in Asia, Europe and the Americas, plus one big ‘Routes World’ event – which is the flagship global focused event. IATA organise a summer and winter event. And Connect organise a European event. Each occurring through the year in different locations within their respective regions. This last week it was the flagship Routes World event, this year held in Istanbul (next year will be in Bahrain, year after allegedly in Asia, and year after that strong rumour is it will be in Saudi).

And that is where I have spent most of the last week, and why the week has been a whirlwind.

It all started with a 6.20am flight on Saturday from Delhi to Istanbul, and Fabien (my boss) was travelling with me to spend one day at the event to see what it was all about. He was going to pick me up at 4am, but when my alarm went off at 3.30am (yawn…), I woke to a message saying he was outside from 3.25am so could go early. Needless to say I had not deliberately got up earlier than needed nor could I travel back in time, so we ended up leaving broadly as planned and by lunchtime local time in Istanbul were having lunch in the hotel. I managed to get out for a run (well more accurately should be described as a jog given current lack of fitness) while I had the chance of some fresher air and more tolerable temperatures. I know from plenty of experience that once the event itinerary starts, it is a veritable rollercoaster which you do not get off until the event ends.

I deliberately call it an event, rather than a conference. Generally, the word conference associates with sitting in a hall listening to speakers, and while there is a conference program at Routes events, the main focus is to hold direct meetings. I very rarely get the time to attend any conference sessions as I am just too busy hopping from meeting to meeting and this was the experience last week. I did not have time to listen to any of these conference sessions.

So, following a run, and getting unpacked and all my clothes ironed, the whirlwind began. And it would not stop until it all ended three days later. The evenings have networking receptions, and the days are back-to-back meetings. I know I will have no real downtime during this intense period, and even write my out of office with a note that I am effectively out of contact for the duration. I do not travel to these events to spend time dealing with normal matters back at the office. I need to focus, and make the most of the event’s opportunities for discussions.

Istanbul itself is in my view probably too big a location for a good Routes event, particularly in the manner it was put on. The organisers will arrange for coach transport between venues for receptions, and between the airport and hotels, and the hotels and the conference centre. Notoriously though such coach transport can be less reliable to published schedules as local contracted operators are often not in sync as intended. For Istanbul the general city congestion meant transfers were taking well over an hour and a few of us that ventured to the Saturday evening welcome reception by taxi (the coach was going to early) soon regretted it. Leaving the hotel at 6.45pm to get to a reception that ran from 7-9pm and was supposed to be a 30 minute drive away did not exactly go to plan, and when we finally got into the reception at 8.35pm it was rightly considered a complete waste of time. Half an hour later we were in a taxi back to the hotel (another hour…). Holding receptions at fancy places in the centre of Istanbul is nice in theory and a way of fulfilling the intent of profiling the city to the great and good of the industry. However, in reality the traffic and travel times involved just annoyed everyone. In truth the best way is to hold everything in close proximity, unless there really are no traffic issues and venturing further afield is more time feasible.

Each of the working days part of the event is where the true business is formally done, although the receptions (a welcome reception on arrival night, and a main awards/gala event on evening of day two), does allow for good networking and relationship building.

These are a core part of the reason for attending, and so equally important. Sadly, this year’s gala dinner/awards were experienced amidst a drop in temperatures and lashing rain. To get there involved a boat ride which was great in theory, but the rain put paid to the theory and replaced reality with damp and cold. That boat still took an hour though…

This was frustrating for the organiser as it meant the 3,400 people there all crammed into the indoor part of the venue making it very congested and the outdoor awards ceremony and entertainment was sparsely attended. This year I personally had been nominated for an industry leadership award, and one of our airports (Goa) for an airline marketing excellence award. Unfortunately, we did not win either, but being nominated amongst only four other people/airports in the entire industry was an achievement in itself. Of course, personally I would have loved us to win these awards, but I am happy with the recognition of just being nominated and that was great in itself.

Worth a side comment to note that needless to say the evening receptions will include free drinks. This calls for self restraint as otherwise those daytime meetings would be all the more challenging! In my more mature years this has been less of an issue as I feel I know the line between playing hard and working hard, but there are a few recollections of my earlier Routes days maybe not having been so sensible…

During the days the agenda is split into a sequence of twenty minute meeting slots, with a diary which is populated according to request and mutual acceptance by the airline and airport. Think of it as being like speed dating. Because in a professional manner that is basically what it is. You request all the meetings you want in advance of the event, and on arrival receive a diary which is populated for you mostly according to the requests made. Given the fact over 3,000 people are in attendance and literally hundreds of different airlines and airports are seeking meetings with each other the magic and wizardry that goes on behind the scenes to schedule all this still impresses me. The end result though being I have a diary which I follow throughout the day. And it is very prescribed, with no meeting overruns or flexibility. Given the intensity on each participant, if people go off-piste so to speak it can throw schedules awry. It is a fairly mutually understood principle not to stay beyond your allocated slot or to go and try and wrangle a meeting that is not pre-arranged. Some dirty looks are given to those that try!

Each of these twenty-minute meeting slots occur at the airlines allocated table in their specific meeting zone. It means the airline teams stay in one place and the airports go to meet with them at their table. There are ten-minute breaks between each meeting session, and so the patter goes that you go to one meeting, have twenty minutes of discussions, an alarm goes off to state meeting over, and you have then ten minutes to find the next meeting which could be a ways off in a different zone.

Obviously twenty minutes is not enough time to truly present a case for a new route or whatever the topic is but generally the best practice is not to hard sell in full detail any potential opportunity but instead to use the time as a broad discussion and agree follow ups later if relevant. The result being a few specific targeted lines of interest which arise, and a good broad level of profile raising for longer term purposes also. Each of which is equally important and beneficial. Thus, the output of a Routes event usually sets up the next few months focus areas, and schedule. For example, I now intend three specific airline HQ meetings in the next few months to build on specific discussions had.

I have been coming to these events pretty much all my aviation career in various guises, originally sitting on the airline side of the table and more recently from the airport side. So, for me these meetings are very much second nature and I really do not need to do any preparation which makes it much easier. But I know from past experience that you need to go into these meetings well informed and relevant. In the past I recall when I was an airline delegate, having airports coming up to the meeting asking where I flew and what type of aircraft I operated. Not a good approach!

The other angle to the event is the exhibition space which comprises of a range of exhibitors (mostly airports and key industry suppliers of relevance to route development).

Much to the annoyance of the Routes organisation I personally am not a believer in the need to exhibit. In my view, while it is a good way to present your airport to the industry and raise some profile, the investment required is not worth it. In truth, the actual choice of an airline to operate to the airport is down to the potential market for the route. I have never heard of an airline choosing to operate to an airport because they saw the exhibition stand of said airport at Routes and were attracted to the airport as a function of that.

Ok, the stand is a good means to host some discussions and have a central point to congregate but in reality, the meetings occur irrespective of the stand being there. And it is a very expensive investment just to have somewhere to congregate as a team. Having this perspective led me to cancel Manchester airport’s participation through exhibition stand while I was in my former role, and despite numerous attempts by Routes to have me take a GMR stand (current company) I have declined. Routes know I have this perspective, so it is almost comedic requests when they do reach out to me about this, as they already know my answer.

However, all that said, at this event we did actually have our brand splashed onto the Groupe ADP and TAV stand, as they are shareholders/partners in our business, and it would have looked odd to have not joined in with co-branding. But my perspective was the same – given ADP/TAV were having a stand then it was only right to be included. It was not a GMR driven stand, as I would not have signed that off.

And so, the three days went by in a whirlwind blur. I personally had 31 direct meetings, alongside numerous corridor conversations and networking discussions before, during, and after the formal agenda. It is shattering to say the least, keeping on point and focused for that level of continuous engagement and all you want to do at the end is lie in a darkened room.

The last night (Tuesday) after the end of the final day it was nice to have a casual dinner and drinks with friends in the business, in a non-pressured easy way. I always prefer to leave the day after the event finishes to allow for just that. No pressure to rush the final day to catch a flight, and the chance to wrap it all up socially at the end.

And so back to Delhi on Wednesday eve following a more relaxed catch-up day working from the hotel before my evening flight, landing into Delhi at 5am. I was home by around 6.30am having had to wait for checked baggage this time meaning my personal best of 48 minutes from wheels touching the runway to the key opening my apartment door from getting off an international flight was never under threat. I managed to grab a few hours’ sleep and headed to the office later that morning. Primarily I went in rather than worked from home that day to attend a key meeting that was occurring. Even though it was a virtual meeting happening in Goa I preferred to join from the office. I had been under a little subtle pressure to get there to attend in person. But that would have required me to jump on an 0735 departing flight and having just landed back from Istanbul at 0500 I really could not bring myself to do that. So virtual was my plan.

And then five minutes after the start time of the meeting it was subsequently cancelled. Good job I did not break myself to get down to Goa in person.

Ah, home sweet India home!