CEO INTERVIEW

Cornwall Airport Newquay has a new MD.

We catch up with Sam O’Dwyer, who talks us through the turbulent times the industry has been facing over the past couple of years and her hopes for the future.

CEO feature and cover photographs by Toby Weller

O’DwyerSam

You’ve been in the industry all your life in various roles.

I’m aviation through and through. I started off at an airline, then went to airports, where I was initially in charge of delivering big multimillion pound development programmes. And I think that capital planning strategy background is something that Corserv see is something that will be very useful to making the best of the asset that we’ve got in Newquay.

But it’s always been in my blood. Basically, my father was an aerospace engineer. He used to design aircraft and things that flew. I was dragged to every aviation museum in the UK. But it was something that we always talked about. We were located in the south east near both Heathrow and Gatwick and I ended up applying for an apprenticeship with British Airways and was successful. And to be honest, once I started, I realised what a land of opportunity it was. And it was in a very, very different time, when aviation was seen as glamorous, and it made a lot of money. It was pre the low cost carriers and all of the challenges that presented for the full service airlines. But there’s always something interesting going on. It’s always developing and I just find it all incredibly interesting.

I want to build back to at least what we had pre-Covid

And what attracted you to the job here, because this is a slight change in direction isn’t it, managing an airport rather consulting to various ones?

To be honest with you, I think, for me, it’s bringing together a lot of what I do, and the bits that I actually enjoy doing the most.

I’m very people focused for a start. I’m quite entrepreneurial. I’ve been a consultant, I’ve been a freelance consultant and worked for a large consultancy for some time. So for me, it’s the opportunity to bring all that together and get some really good benefits for the people of Cornwall. And this is a lovely airport in a fantastic location. And it’s got some real potential.

These past couple of years must have been the hardest ever for the industry. How has it been trying to pick things up again?

Early days, obviously, but good. My immediate priority is to build back the schedule that we had pre Covid and more. I’m working very closely with our airline partners to look at the route network. And I want to build a route network that allows us to accommodate the business community. And I really want to get some background knowledge from the local business community to make sure we give them what they want. It’s all very well having a business in Cornwall, but they need to be able to engage with their markets, whether it’s overseas or the financial centres in London. But either way we have to ask ourselves, are we really serving that community as well as we could?

I can see there are some real opportunities that if we do certain things, we can actually build a business network that serves the business community of Cornwall. I’m very keen to engage with the business community just to see what they’ve got to say and how can work together. Why are you traveling? Where are you traveling to? How do you get your goods in and out of Cornwall?

There were challenging conditions for regional airports even before the pandemic. Are the challenges similar for all regional airports?

Location of the region is one of the main challenges and that’s precisely why there’s a PSO (public service obligation), leveling up regional communities. I’ve just been reading

this morning some information from ACI (Airports Council International) about state funding and what has been made available to other regional type airports within Europe. And it’s significantly more than we have here at the moment. So I’m going to be looking really to a make sure that we can deliver our part of the green agenda, because as far as I can see, so far, the local community, the business community and the resident community have very much moved on from seeing Cornwall Airport Newquay as a drain on our finances to Cornwall Airport Newquay being an asset that we need to make the most of. And the PSO helps that. And I recently met with Eastern Airlines, I met with the owner and the managing director to see how we can build on the route network, hopefully, for the benefit of the people in Cornwall.

I want to build back to at least what we had pre-Covid. And some. And also, I’m going to be looking at pulling a lot more data around international routes, and which international routes local people need. Do we need more winter sun? Do we need more summer sun? Winter ski season?

I think summer 2022 and winter 2022 are seasons of opportunity.

When discussing new routes with the airlines, is that quite a long-drawn out process?

It’s not long drawn out at the moment, because Covid has meant there’s a real late booking profile and because there is no established data about recovery, all bets are off. It’s very lastminute.com, if I’m honest. So, the discussion really is what demand can we produce, what are the passenger numbers likely to be? And what’s our catchment area?

And then you need to ensure there’s an adequate number of rotations, for the business community for example, that you need to be able to do a day return. And for some summer sun, if you’re going to connect through Heathrow or Gatwick, you’ll need to ensure that there are appropriate connecting times and find appropriate connecting services. The devil really is in the detail for me. And that’s basically what I’m going to be doing over the next few months is having those discussions with the business community, having those discussions with the local residents, talking to travel agents. The collapse of Flybe has had a significant impact on Exeter, but in some respects, is that an opportunity for Newquay to provide routes that are currently not being catered for?

Prior to the pandemic, there was a link with Heathrow which went down well with the business community. Could that be on the agenda going forward? How long will it take for the industry to regain its confidence?

I’ve spoken to lots of my airport colleagues and we’re all saying we’re “cautiously optimistic”. For me building back to where we were will be within the next four years. That’s kind of the industry view. But how long is a piece of string? We don’t know what the next variant is going to be. Less impactful than Omicron or could it be more? And how are we going Spaceport is to react globally to vaccination an enormous programmes? I don’t know the answers but I think the industry opportunity realises it definitely needs to be more dynamic in responding. But what I do know without doubt is that there is a pent-up demand for people in the UK to go overseas. We need to be able to provide that demand quickly.

Yes, we’re hoping to have a Heathrow link on the agenda, not the frequency obviously the PSO facilitated, but we’re hoping to have a three-times a week in the summer schedule operated by British Airways.

The PSO is currently operated out of Gatwick with Eastern Airlines. Eastern Airlines was selected because we believe that they are dynamic. They are prepared to take risks and to work with us to build and develop the best network possible.

At the moment that’s just one flight a day?

That’s definitely going up. The PSO wasn’t awarded until the middle of December, so we didn’t really have a huge amount of time for people to book onto the service. And then of course, we’ve had Omicron. And the Government protocols were unclear, and that really knocked consumer confidence. But what we have seen in the last few weeks is that consumer confidence is really coming back. So, we’re definitely going to be building on that and will be releasing more services on the PSO imminently.

How is the business strategy for the airport changing?

There has been a distinct lack of investment. My plan now is to develop the business strategy over the next few months to develop a master plan for the airport that takes advantage of the potential opportunities that I can see. For example, we’ve got a 650acre estate that’s absolutely begging to be developed. Part of our master plan will be a land use strategy. How can the airport really maximize all of that estate to the mutual benefit of the aerodrome and the network that we have here. And also to local businesses, so anything that could be complementary and drive more traffic into Cornwall will be things that we’re actively looking to develop.

And I guess the satellite operations fall into that?

Absolutely, Spaceport is an enormous opportunity. We’re working very closely with the Spaceport team to make sure that we take advantage of those opportunities. It’s early days, but again, funding is an issue for both us and Spaceport. And we’re looking to validate those opportunities and really work closely together.

It will be bringing external investment into the area and there’s an opportunity of becoming the UK satellite launch base. At the moment, there’s no ability to launch satellites from the UK, either vertical or horizontal. It will be the first opportunity to do that. And then what does the future of UK space launch look like? And how do we make that work for Cornwall? And how do we make that work for Newquay Airport? So yes, there’s quite a lot to be done.

Getting the message across that 100 holidaymakers driving down from Manchester can be worse for the environment than all those people flying down?

I assume another big challenge is the getting the right environmental message across, because climate change is so high on the agenda now?

We haven’t done enough within aviation to demonstrate how green we can actually be. And particularly the airport, we definitely need investment to move to green technologies, because they are out there. There is an increased cost, but it’s something that we will do, and we have to do. And then I think, as you say, is the messaging. Since Covid everybody’s just been concerned about building their businesses back, but it’s building our businesses back differently and becoming more of a friend of the environment and getting the message out there. For example, the aircraft that we’re flying on the PSO to London, is actually more carbon friendly than taking the train. There are greener technologies that we are actively utilising, sustainable aviation fuels. Exactly. It’s something that I’m keen to get some data on, and to start looking at how we can communicate better with people so that they can see that we’re not a foe of the community, we’re actually a friend of the community.

The airport is Council owned, which I guess is not ideal. But who would want to buy an airport in this day and age?

Well, you’d be surprised. There are lots of people out there that do want to buy airports in this day and age. But yes, we are Council owned, and but that does have some advantages. It helps us to secure funding when it’s available from Government. It helps us in terms of our ability to develop the right facilities on the 650-acre estate. And of course, having that link into Government is beneficial as well. And also having the conduit to their constituents is beneficial. We’re not the only airport in the in the country operated by the Council and it can work very successfully. And that’s what I’m hoping to do.

Is the industry typically male dominated? And if so, has that been a challenge for you personally?

Definitely. If you looked at the ratio of male to female employees in the industry, it may be equal. But if you look at boardroom level, there’s a distinct difference between the two. And for my entire life, I have generally been sitting at a table surrounded by men. So, I’m very positive that I think it’s a good thing to have a key figurehead at Newquay who is a female. It’s not that women are better, but I think having a mix and a different approach that you’d have between male and female, it brings balance.

Part of our master plan will be a land use strategy

Have you had to work harder to prove yourself?

Yes, I think I have over the years, but it’s definitely changing. Initially, if a woman is seen as forthright as a male, there used to be a negative connotation around that. If you stood up for yourself and said we need to do this, do that, many years ago there was surprise that a woman could actually come up with those ideas. And then yes, you do have to be stronger. It’s getting better but yes, without doubt, as a female during my tenure in aviation, I’ve had to prove I’m better than my male colleagues in order to advance my career. And I think if you speak to most women who have been in the industry as long as I have, they will tell you the same story.

I assume Covid must have hit staff numbers at the airport?

During Covid we lost 30% of our operational headcount, because basically we lost more than 30% of the of the traffic. At the moment we are recruiting a small number of operational only roles. I think it’s fair to say that staffing is absolutely down to the bone.

As I say, being cautiously optimistic for our summer schedule, we have to recruit in order to facilitate that schedule and we’re actively recruiting as we speak. I think my concern going forward is to ensure that I’ve got enough resilience in the operation.

One great thing about Newquay Airport that I’ve really seen is that the staff have been so flexible, and they are so committed to making it work. I can’t thank the team enough, really.

Moving forward from the pandemic and with a new MD, it must be like having a blank sheet of paper, almost a reboot for the airport itself?

Absolutely. And I see it as a really positive opportunity. When I was interviewed, I said to the panel, to be honest, this is probably one of the best opportunities in aviation.

Hopefully looking forward to a busy summer. How many routes will there be in operation roughly, compared to before lockdown?

We had 23 routes prior to lockdown. There are currently 19 on the schedule but I believe that will change for the better over the next few weeks.

Will these be new routes or old ones coming back? Can it be quite complicated getting a new route?

To make it work commercially, they’re depending on the price of the lease of the aircraft, they need to be up in the air six, seven hours a day minimum. And it depends a lot on the aircraft type and the number of seats on that aircraft. So that I suppose one of the challenges we’ve got is the size of Newquay and the catchment area which is about a million passengers in the south west. Can we demonstrate adequate demand that will put on bigger aircraft types to go to further flung places? That’s one of the challenges that I’m grappling with. Can we fly long haul out of Newquay?

Is that realistic do you think?

There are a number of different strategies we’ve got for building back. One is to reestablish what we had prior to Covid. A second is to reduce seasonality, so that we’re not just so summer orientated. And a third is to build more international routes out of Newquay. Seasonality is a challenge. But as I mentioned, we are potentially looking at ski routes, and building some key business routes with the right volume and the frequency that we’ll be able to run throughout the year. We’re not going to be 90% occupancy as the hotels are all year round, but we are going to try and reduce that seasonality by working with the right carriers to put on the right routes.

Build a network that serves the business community of Cornwall

I think there’s a distinct possibility of it being realistic if we also build an integrated transport network and look at freight and cargo. We’ve got a fantastic runway and the capacity of the runway was 100% proven during G7, which was a fantastic success. But it’s not just about can we actually facilitate the aircraft size, which we know we can, it’s about do we have enough traffic to make it worth it. And one of the strands that I’m looking at is to look at cargo and the largest part of cargo growth in the UK is belly hold cargo. And the reason for that is that it makes the economics for the airlines stack up. Cargo in the belly hold, passengers up top in the seats. And that’s why for me, local businesses who need to export, they are the people I really want to talk to.

So, if there is demand, your goal is to meet that demand and facilitate it?

Yes. What I’m really trying to pull together is what do the local business community need? Which routes do they want to be served? What is their demand for these routes? If there is a freight and cargo opportunity that is something I am 100% going to look at.