Inflight Magazine of Brussels Airlines

FIRST PERSON Q&A

Lieve Mommaerts

Lieve Mommaerts is Brussels Airlines’ Ground Operations Area Manager for Benelux – here she tells us the challenges of keeping Ops running smoothly at all times

What are the key job requirements of an Ops manager?
You have to be 200% customer oriented. You need to be fast on your feet, know how to make quick decisions, know how to judge situations. You’re an ambassador of the company, after all, and you need to deal with all sorts of people.

What would you say makes for successful Ops management?
Well, every day brings new challenges – for us, Ops is above all a matter of logistics. But we can’t think or act like machines, because of course for each passenger his or her problems are the priority. You have to be efficient, but you also have to be a bit of a psychologist – customer service is as much about dealing with human beings as with events.

What is the main drive in improving customers’ travel experience?
At the airport, the main thing is to make sure things happen smoothly and quickly. For example, we’re putting a lot of effort into giving passengers as wide a range of check-in options as possible. People sometimes feel better controlling things themselves, so we give them that option with our express and online check-ins.

Another thing we try to help passengers understand is our own challenges in doing the job. For example, getting people on and off the plane is one of the key criteria to smooth and punctual rotation, and we’ve found that it helps to explain this to passengers to ensure that the process isn’t held up.

What makes you proud in your job?
I’m proud of the people I work with. Teamwork is the number one aspect of success in Ground Operations. You can’t achieve stuff on your own, you rely on your team – on all the different teams, in fact. Of course, all our teams are made up of highly talented individuals!

What do you like most about your work?
Being on the frontline. In Ground Operations we go the extra mile every day, and it’s very gratifying to see what a huge difference that makes to our customers. And we really do care about our work – when you’re working in such a stressful environment you can’t keep performing well unless you really enjoy it.

And when you’re not working?
I like travelling, of course, to all sorts of places in Africa and in Europe. I’m a real bon vivant – I love good food, good wine, good company… Just like at work, I like to live the rest of my life to the full.

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