Company Description
We are proud of our Hong Kong heritage and equally proud of the global, diverse workforce that makes us who we are. Celebrating 77 years of flying this year, we are a values driven, complex global business; but we are also a family. Regardless of job or location, we are all one team who are focused on delivering a world-class airline operation.
Role Introduction
Location/Country: Tokyo/Japan, or Incheon/Korea, or Taipei/Taiwan
Employment Condition: Permanent
We are looking for a Regional Head of Airports, Northeast Asia, who is responsible for our airport service delivery teams in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. Reporting through to the Regional General Manager and the Head of Global Airports in Hong Kong, this role is responsible for over 300 team members across 9 airports looking after the Cathay Pacific and Hong Kong Express brands ensuring an exceptional customer experience and on time performance, sometimes with the support of third party providers.
The successful candidate will take strategic and management accountability whilst being collaborative in nature to enable and actively support the region’s talented Airport Operations Managers to focus, lead and succeed in day-to-day operations and provide exceptional customer experience delivery. They will have a comprehensive understanding of the region’s culture, current and future needs including tactical succession planning to deliver safety and operational excellence, sustainable cost avoidance and productivity improvement aligned with Cathay’s thoughtful, progressive and can-do values.
Key Responsibilities
Airport Performance Management
- Support the region to be compliant with all regulatory requirements, safety and quality standards in the execution of corporate safety, security and quality policies
- Assist the airport teams to have remedial actions and robust action plans in place to deal with substandard performance and improvement plans (including but not limited to ground operations and lounges)
- Maintain active oversight of the full spectrum of airport operational issues including supplier performance partnering with the Airport Operations Managers as required to resolve them in a pragmatic, commercial, timely and legally compliant manner
- Support local airport management to identify and mitigate personal, safety and security risks in the lounge operation environment and in the workplace for employees (suppliers included) by promoting and developing a culture of zero tolerance on safety and security incidents
Project and Planning
- Maintain strategic oversight and act as the primary point of contact, taking overall responsibility for the delivery of major projects for multi-locations, e.g. new airport launch, change of General Handling Agent, Requests for Pricing across locations, terminal/airport move, and projects involving ports within the region
Communications alignment
- Be the primary point of contact in the region for Head Office for long term airport strategic planning
- Translate corporate strategies and directives into clear operational plans of work to a regional level and assist the Airport Operations Managers in the execution
- Be a sounding board for the region’s airport community through constant collection of feedback
- Be the point of support for Airport Operations Managers to ensure effective partnerships with various authorities and take an active involvement in Board of Airline Representatives and Airport Operators Committees as required
Crisis Management capability and preparedness
- Ensure highly developed and practiced organisational, supplier and individual capabilities in the region for effectively handling Emergency and Accident (E&A), Irregular Operations (IROPS), and other foreseeable airport contingencies
People Development and Performance Management
- Build a strong and motivated team, ensuring the right organisational structure and the right people are in place to foster positive team spirit and facilitate teamwork
- Supervise and mentor direct reports, encouraging effective collaboration
- Demonstrate leadership and lead by example in accordance with Cathay’s core values
- Develop employees with high potential and identify learning opportunities to ensure appropriate training and development programmes are in place to suit both self-handled and 3rd party ports as appropriate
- Actively engage with employees to enhance communication and their understanding of department goals
- Enhance the employee experience in line with the role level and the internal brand promise
Budget and Cost Management
- Support Head Office to drive the Airport Operations Managers for effective staffing deployment and recruitment to meet established manpower standards
- Manage costs and budgets effectively without compromising legislation, levels of service or operational performance
- Support the Airport Operations Managers in annual reviews of suppliers in terms of service delivery, cost commitments and adherence to Service Level Agreements
E&A
- Emergency and Accident and Crisis Response responsibilities as required
Requirements
- Bachelor’s and/or Master’s degree in operations management, business administration, airport planning and management or airport operations is highly desirable
- At least 7 years’ solid Customer Service experience in a leadership position with a travel related background (preferably in airlines or airport services)
- Up to date knowledge of all regulatory and local legal requirements relating to airport operations and passenger processing
- Command of different management processes and their importance as they vary from normal operations to disruption or emergency situations
- Superior independent working capabilities with strong decision-making skills
- Self-motivated and committed leader who enjoys team work
- Strong customer service mentality with superior interpersonal skills
- Excellent analytical/numerical skills and experience of planning, reviewing and managing budgets and costs
- Ability to interpret and implement global policy to ensure local compliance
- Ability to think logically and commercially in order to present and justify ideas/findings to a wide variety of audiences that are often culturally diverse
- High personal presentation as the job-holder is expected to represent the Company at external/internal meetings
- Proven track record of supplier management in-line with Company policy involving contract renewal, negotiation, agreeing terms of business, and senior management endorsement
- Superior computer literacy including Word, Excel and PowerPoint
- Leads, adapts to and embraces constant change
- Excellent written and oral communication skills in both English and Japanese are mandatory with Chinese and Korean language skills being an advantage
Benefits
- Basic salary: JPY718,620/month
- Title allowance: JPY150,000/month
- Fixed allowance per month: JPY38,000 + Basic salary x 7.4%
- Other allowances: the company regulations apply
- Social insurance: Unemployment insurance, Worker's compensation insurance, Health insurance, Welfare pension insurance
- Commuting expense allowance: Up to JPY50,000/month
- Retirement allowance: None
- Working hours per day: 7.5 hours
- Break time: 1 hour
- Off day: Two days off every week
- Probation period: 6 months
- Annual leave: 16 days in the first year after completing 6 month service
- Potential for additional discretional bonus (depending on the Company's performance and financial status)
Call to action
There are many people behind the Cathay Pacific brand. If you want a supportive working culture, to fly to exciting destinations at significant discounts and be part of a world-class airline, we have opportunities for talented people. Apply now to start your Cathay journey.
Personal & Application Information
Application
- Cover letter in English detailing your motivation for applying
- CV
Application deadline: 9 June 2023
Cathay Pacific is an Equal Opportunities Employer. Personal data provided by job applicants will be used strictly in accordance with our personal data policy and for recruitment purposes only. All related information will be kept in our file for up to 24 months. A copy of our Personal Information Collection Statement will be provided upon request by contacting our Data Protection Officer.