Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1173510
03.10.19 9 INTERVIEW losing gaming edge tion, and, in Europe, unless you are in the United Kingdom, Ire- land or Malta, you could face an issue where your employees cannot speak the required level of English. Another factor was Malta's great aviation background, in- volving Air Malta and all re- lated companies. We found a solid basis in terms of aviation knowledge and the spirit on the island. In parallel to this, we were also well-received by the authorities, including the Civ- il Aviation Directorate within Transport Malta and the Trans- port Ministry. e Transport Minister understood our needs and supports business aviation. ey saw us as an opportunity, not a burden. Moreover, Malta's legal framework is interesting and pragmatic. It is simple to do business here, and this is what a small company requires; agility, clear rules and no excessive bu- reaucracy. Over time, Malta also devel- oped very modern rules to man- age owner assets such as aircraft, with all the latest regulations in place to support ownership when it comes to tax and securi- ty matters. e banks, insurance companies and owners were very happy to register aircraft in Malta, because it is very safe place to do so. Back in 2008, people in the avi- ation sector hadn't really heard about Malta. ey would ask: where is Malta? But nobody asks that question anymore, and the business managed to establish itself in five or six years. It's an amazing story of success, and we are proud that we took the right decision to come here, af- ter which all our competitors followed. Do you find enough adequately trained staff locally, or is it a challenge sourcing suitably qualified human resources? Our team is very internation- al. Around 50% of our staff are Maltese, but we've also attracted many professionals from outside the country. In total, we have 35 different nationalities working at Comlux in Malta, if we include cabin crew and pilots. We en- courage multiple cultures and languages, because we believe that in this business you need to have multi-national background to understand clients, who hail from all over the globe. If you don't understand the diversity of cultures, you'll never understand clients' requirements. e Zu- rich and Indianapolis teams are also very diverse. Having differ- ent cultures is a group standard for Comlux. When it comes to finding suit- ably trained staff, I should note that this was easier when we first started out in Malta, because many people were either retir- ing early from Air Malta, or had decided to take a different career path, or were coming from simi- lar plane maintenance business- es and so on. Today, the competi- tion is quite tough, because there are many players and it is now an employees' not employers' mar- ket. However, our staff give us a long-term commitment, spend- ing on average at least five to six years with the company. For managers, its eight years. is is a sign they enjoy working in our environment and they also find a career path with us. We want to give our employees the chance to become managers and have multiple examples of juniors who became senior managers. If they put in the necessary hard work and receive the right train- ing, they can achieve this. Com- lux also brings in professionals from outside, who already would have occupied senior positions. erefore, we have a mix of in- ternal know-how and external knowledge. Do Maltese business people make use of the services you offer – is the service popular with local businessmen? No so much, because it isn't within our scope. is is because we operate large aircraft, which are generally used by bigger countries or huge corporations. Comlux has just announced receiving its fourth ACJ- 320neo completion order with new cabin contract. How important is this for the company? e 320neo is a very mod- ern aircraft, especially when it comes to engines. In fact, "neo" stands for "new engine option". Its engines are very efficient and offer a 15% saving in fuel, togeth- er with being very environmen- tally friendly, with lower emis- sions than previous models. e aircraft itself has been partially redesigned, making it the most modern aircraft you can buy. ACJ stands for Airbus Cor- porate Jet. is is where Airbus meets VIP aviation. Airbus de- signs aircraft for airlines, but they also consider designing spe- cific aircraft, based on the 320 model, for VIP aviation. Comlux is very successful in this area, be- cause it purchases these types of aircraft and outfits their cabin. e ACJ-320neo is one of many aircraft which Comlux has pur- chased. We then outfit the cabin according to our clients' require- ments, and then sell the aircraft to them. If the client wishes, we also operate the plane for the years to come. Comlux has purchased three ACJ-320neos. By far, we re- main the VIP aviation company which has purchased the most aircraft from Airbus. We've also done multiple deals with Boe- ing and Bombardier. We have a very good relationship with these three manufacturers, and we also proudly operate Gulf Stream, Embraer and Dassault Falcon Jets aircraft. In August this year, Comlux Malta announced it had been awarded IS-BAO Stage 3 certification. What does this mean for the Maltese operation? IS-BAO is an acronym for In- ternational Standard for Busi- ness Aircraft Operations, which is a body which audits compa- nies like Comlux which are al- ready certified by the relevant authority in their country of reg- istration but which are willing to apply higher standards. We applied for IS-BAO years ago, and we had to go through three steps, with IS-BAO Stage 3 being the highest level. IS-BAO certifi- cation, which is renewed every three years, allows us to ensure we are in line with all regulations and recommended practices in order to have safe operations. is auditing program is fo- cused on safety management systems (SMS), a concept which was developed in the last 15 years or so, and is a mandatory activity for every airline. SMS is a system which allows us to certify safe operations in all aspects. ere are many processes which have to be im- plemented to achieve this cer- tification, but the principal one is the culture of the company. It would not be possible to suc- cessfully implement safety pro- cesses if a safety culture were not embraced from the top. is relates to the behaviour of everyone in the company. If any staff manager sees a danger, this has to be immediately reported to the manager. Managers have to evaluate any hazard and take the necessary steps, while staff have to act appropriately to re- duce the risk. Proactively ana- lysing risks is another aspect of safety management. Every time we serve a new destina- tion which isn't one we typically fly to, if we foresee that there is any risk in terms of weather, the type of runway, the sur- roundings, and so on, we have to undertake a review before deciding on whether to operate. We then assess the level of risk and decide if we need to do any additional training or if we need to limit our operation. You can't entertain any business if you don't understand your risks. At the end, we do all this in order to ensure the operation goes smoothly, without any trouble, and that we serve our clients' requirements. How solid is the European business jet sale and charter industry at the moment? What trends do you see across Europe in this sector? Are clients moving away from ownership to leasing and charter? e industry suffered a setback in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Subsequently, however, corporations and private indi- viduals seized new opportunities to do better business. Over time, we've seen that very high-net- worth individuals who managed to grasp certain opportunities subsequently grew very quickly, and this brought with it its own set of opportunities for the busi- ness aviation sector. Now we're seeing a kind of maturity in the business aviation sector in gen- eral, although this differs by re- gion. Geo-politics also has an in- fluence on the development of business aviation. Russia's issues with other countries, for exam- ple, gave rise to certain matters which had to be dealt with. e Middle East, specifically Saudi Arabia, with its own approach to and style of governance, has also changed the behaviour of business aviation travellers. Af- rica presents strong opportuni- ties for developments. China is still growing, but at a lesser rate than before. South East Asia of- fers several opportunities and business aviation has space to develop there. Due to the size of many of these countries, busi- ness aviation is a solution for travel, and we foresee a need here which has not yet been fully exploited. But European business aviation is still seen to be leading in terms of culture, safety standards, quality and service level. e real-world is dynamic and ever-changing. You cannot as- sume that next year will be the same as the current year. e market is always changing and asking for other type of services. It is possible that the market will shift from aircraft ownership to fractional ownership, aircraft leasing or short-term charter- ing. is all depends on clients' needs, and our approach to the business has, and does, change accordingly.