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Aviation News Sabine Tertre appointed President & CEO of Air Support

Sabine Tertre appointed President & CEO of Air Support

Interview by Marie Christophe
20 JUL 2017 | 1609 words
Sabine Tertre appointed President & CEO of Air Support
© Air Support
Sabine Tertre, 42, is taking charge of Air Support after advancing her career there steadily over the last 18 years. The cheerful and dynamic young woman tells us about her journey and her vision for the years to come.

Tell us a little about Air Support

Air Support is an MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul), a repair workshop. We achieved turnover of 17.7 million Euro at 31st March 2017. We have grown by 75% over two years and 33.5% over the last year. We have two major activities, which account for 12 million Euro of our turnover and which are essentially MRO; so, we repair components, especially engine components such as valves, cylinders, oil tanks and so on. We have cabin equipment since we repair everything to do with galley inserts, ovens and coffee machines and everything to do with lighting on planes. The remaining 5 million Euro comes from our technical assistance activity, notably on seats before delivery to new aircraft. We currently have a staff of 109, including temporary staff. We also have a strong export culture since it provides 49% of our turnover.

How did you join the company?

I joined Air Support in 1999. I have been a director since 2004, first of all as a minority shareholder then the majority shareholder since 30th June. Today I am moving on from chief executive to president with 70% of the shares, joining forces with the investment company IXO Private Equity which owns the remaining 30%.

What's your background?

I've always worked in the aviation industry, first of all within a major design office in Toulouse which is now part of Safran. I then had two positions in the aviation industry, then I joined Air Support. As an aside, I met François Thibert at the Le Bourget show in 1997. I arrived just as someone was being a little bit naughty. We had a good laugh about it and I went and had dinner with the team. I joined the company two years later and I've been here for 18 years now. You could say I've come of age!

What did Air Support look like 18 years ago?

When I arrived there were about ten of us. Everything was still to be done; it's much easier to go from 100 to 150 people than from 10 to 100. The whole company had to be structured, the support services, purchasing, human resources, sales and so on. We went from practically zero to where we are today, a company organised with a model which works well and structured departments which can absorb higher growth.

Do you consider your gradual progress through the company to be an asset?

Yes, I know the company by heart! I've done just about everything, from production manager to human resources via purchasing: when there are 10 of you and you're trying to build a company you need to be able to do everything! There are phases where you need to know how to change. A few years ago, and it's not that long ago, I was production manager for 12 to 18 months because I wasn't happy and I wanted to see for myself what was working and what wasn't. You have to be able to question yourself. I know all the ins and outs of the company, which enables us to create a model which works and which above all is highly flexible in relation to variations in workload. Of course, I think that's a real asset today.

How do you feel as a woman and a President ?

I am proud to be a female CEO in the aviation sector! I don't have a very feminist soul, but I do have to confess that I had to fight to get where I am. As women we need to prove ourselves much more; I think back to shows at Le Bourget where people would ignore me, but when I took out my business card with "DG" on the atmosphere would change completely. After years struggling, you need to be able to turn it into an asset. Today, there are no problems with our teams, they are used to working with me and the know me well. For my part, I tell myself that nothing's been won and that it's a permanent challenge.

Does your passion for aviation extend into your free time?

No, I like to fly but I'm not a pilot. Air Support takes up a lot of my time, it's my real passion!

What are your plans for Air Support?

We have quite a lot of plans just now. For MRO, we have a real investment strategy since we want to expand our capacities to move into new engines. We are present on the CFM56 and the GE90, we will be developing on the CF34 and we are also positioning ourselves on the LEAP. We will be launching at least 500 000 Euro in test benches to develop this skill. Then we have quite a strong growth policy for technical assistance with two projects. One is for the creation of a subsidiary in the United States - either in Seattle or Charleston by the end of 2017 - whose objective will be the same activity as we have at Airbus, but for Boeing this time. We also have a major project in Asia.

Are you planning on international expansion?

For the technical assistance part, yes, for the MRO part less so. The MRO part will develop more with external growth, with the acquisition of companies which will enable us to gain market share. This may be abroad, but not necessarily so.

If you're creating subsidiaries will you need to recruit?

One or two employees will leave head office to pass on and above all manage technical know-how. We will be recruiting locally, according to American employment protection laws. For Asia, a team will be leaving from here as these are skills that they don't have on site, so we have real added value.

What difficulties might you encounter in the sector?

The difficulty in the maintenance sector is that we don't have a three-year view of our workload, where everything is written down, where procurement knows what we need because there's a procedure and that we need all the parts in the procedure and nothing else. In maintenance, contracts are generally non-exclusive, apart from landing gear - which we don't do - and engines - for which there is scheduled maintenance; here again there's no commitment since we operate at equipment level. So, we discover what we're going to be repairing on the day itself or a few days in advance. There may be a few heavy peaks in workload that we can't predict: we need to adapt constantly and have quite a flexible model to be able to honour TAT, Turn Around Time. In the workshop, repair times are the very heart of the matter: we have 10 to 15 calendar days depending on the contracts, with a 96% achievement objective. We have been pretty much at 98% for several months now. Performance stability is extremely important for our customers. We mentioned procurement earlier; in maintenance there's always a part to change, but also the part which has never broken and which all of a sudden needs to be replaced, so we need to be able to react quickly and this model needs to be well-oiled.

How do you recruit?

We always use Aerocontact.com for our recruitment! We were one of the first users of the platform and we are delighted to continue working together. We are looking for sales engineers, purchasers, procurement staff and technicians. These "scarce" positions are the hardest to fill for SMEs. I'd like to take this opportunity to ask for applications... We are also very keen on apprenticeships.

Do you recruit temporary staff to enable you to adapt?

We don't use any temporary staff on the MRO side as we need extremely well-qualified people. On the Airbus assembly line, however, activity is more variable and risk, which enables us to manage temporary staff.

How do you manage changes in the sector?

Yes, it's a sector which is constantly moving and we need to be able to adapt. Partners are coming together; today our customers are no longer major MRO like MRO Moteurs or Safran Aircraft Engines, or plane MRO like Air France Industries or Lufthansa Technik, or aircraft manufacturers like Dassault, Embraer or ATR. We have practically no airlines as direct customers, which shows just how things are changing. But it adds a touch of spice to our day to day business, and we don't get bored!

Air Support is also an excellent team, and that's very important for me. These past 18 years have been marked by the construction of teams, managers and employees and today everyone is highly motivated, "infused" with support and customer services, which is really important for our success. Our people have mainly technical backgrounds, with Bac Pro, BTS, DUT etc. In the technical office we have engineers, and on the administrative side we have a wide range of profiles in the different support functions.

How are you planning to celebrate Air Support's quarter century?

We celebrated the company's 25th anniversary in June this year. We celebrated it at Le Bourget with our customers and we will be celebrating the event in with our families in September by organising open days.

What are the events to come?

For shows, there are two to come: MRO Europe in London from 3rd to 5th October and MRO Asia at the start of November.
 
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