Name: Duncan Philip
Date completed the UKOMA course: February 2007
Employer: easyJet Airline Co. Ltd.
Job Title: Operations Control Centre Support Manager
What does your current job entail?
Management of several teams within the Operations Control Centre: Operations Planning – controlling the programme from around three weeks out to the day before the operation, balancing maintenance requirements with operational needs whilst minimising costs; Flight Planning – Ensuring safe and efficient routings are planned for each and every flight whilst minimising Air Traffic Flow Management delay; Network Performance – analysing operational performance to allow the operation to learn from issues and increase efficiency; Emergency Response – Ensuring that the company is constantly prepared for an emergency event.
What did you enjoy about the UKOMA course?
Networking with colleagues from other operations; learning about alternative solutions to common problems and even problems that are unlikely happen in my own operation that are still good learning points.
After the UKOMA course how did your career progress (former jobs, companies, milestones, etc)?
2006-2009 increased seniority in OCC Operations team, 2009-2012 Flight Planning Supervisor – looking after all day-to-day Flight Planning issues in terms of training, safety management and compliance.
What would be your advice for anyone wanting to get into Operations Control?
Operations Control is an intensely fascinating and rewarding area of the industry. Each day there might well be a multitude of new problems to solve and doing this in the most safe and efficient way that will ultimately ensure the best level of service to our customers means that you always leave work with a smile on your face. It is also a fantastic way to really understand how an airline works and to use as an important step into progressing into other, diverse areas of the business.
The most common entry is via ground handling agents where there is lots of opportunity to learn about a variety of different carriers, aircraft types, passenger demographics and challenges !
