Episode 17 with Mr. Frederik Jacobsen

Episode Summary

Join Dr. Adnan Baranbo in 17th Episode of AVIAPRENEURS talking about How to Run a Successful Airline features The Senior Consultant & Founder of AVIAK SAS. Mr. Frederik Jacobsen.

An airlines professional from Colombia with more than 35 years of experience of setting up and managing airlines. Fredrick started his career with Lufthansa in Bogota, then became country manager for both UPS and DHL later, in Colombia and in Venezuela. He was the President and CEO of Avianca Cargo for 10 years. He then set up Viva Colombia, a Colombian Ultra low-cost-carrier, and served as the company President and CEO as well. He later joined Swissport in the US as COO Cargo Services and VP Business Transformation. Frederick also served as CEO of Lineas Aereas Suramericanas airline in Colombia, and CEO of Arajet airline in the Dominican Republic. He’s now managing his own aviation consulting practice AVIAK SAS.

Watch this Episode to know Mr. Frederik’s answers to the following questions: 

• The airline industry is a sexy industry. Every successful businessman has tried to start, or at least had the idea of starting an airline one day. BUT very few have achieved success, and you’re one of them. What does it take to start a successful growing and profitable airline?
• Start with you having managed a startup and already established airlines …
  • Managing startup airlines or managing already established ones. You have done both. How different is each task from the other?
• Building high performance teams and empowering people to achieve success. What a challenging mission you have set for yourself! How important is the team in making or breaking an airline? 
• you set up up and managed not only one, but two low-cost carriers: 
  • Viva in Colombia,
  • Arajet in the Dominican Republic.
• This business model in the airline industry, which started by Southwest airline in the US in the 70s of the 20th century, continues to succeed and reach profitability from country to country, and from region to another. 
• Is this business model a sure way formula for success and profitability in the airline industry, which is notorious for not making profits in most of the world? 
• Same as low-cost airlines, you also managed two cargo airlines as well in Colombia: 
• Avianca Cargo that was a part of Avianca airline group, whose main business is passenger flights,
• Lineas Aereas Suramericanas. that is a dedicated air cargo airline
  
• Is there any difference in managing these two types of airlines?
• In the last two years, while passenger flights stopped, airlines which had cargo subsidiaries or sister companies, managed to compensate part of the losses by the increased demand and prices of the air cargo flights. 
• Do you think that it’s necessary these days for airlines to have a dedicated cargo aircraft and a specialized cargo airline subsidiary, rather than just a cargo department for selling cargo in the aircraft belly? 
• Many aviation professionals dream of becoming an airline leader one day. What skills are required and what recommendations do you give to the listeners of Aviapreneurs podcast who wish to reach that position and to succeed in it?

All of this and more on the 16th episode of AVIAPRENEURS!