There's a whole lot of things that people don't even give a thought to when they board an aircraft for business or pleasure. In today's internet world there is so much that one can do for themselves that many people would say that there isn't really a need for travel agents any more. The internet can provide you with information about any company and Government departments can tell you, via your mobile telephone, in a second whether the place you are heading to is safe.
Back in the days of Dan-Air, before you got to the airport, you might have spoken to a travel agent, or made the booking direct by telephone. Imagine in the 1970s that debit cards had not been invented! Many people did not even have a credit card to make a telephone booking, and surprisingly in the 1970s less than 30% of people had a cheque book. In that regard, the travel agent was king.
When we look a little further inside Dan-Air's office operation there are many departments that would never catch the attention of a passenger. As far as airline operations go, a complex carrier like Dan-Air had both scheduled services and charter flights. The teams on those departments would be supervised by a departmental manager. In the case of Scheduled Services who would be looking to strengthen and improve the network. This might involve looking at frequencies and timings of flights as well as finding new services to add to the network. They would work alongside the planning teams to ensure that aircraft could be available to carry out the new flights.
The charter department would, as the name suggests, be working flat out to ensure that all the charter fleet was fully utilised for the season, and in many cases, the season after that. In the very early days Tour Operators were limited with how they chartered an aircraft. The Tour Operator would have to charter an entire aircraft. Dan-Air was unique in that the airline had several different types of aircraft and this was an attractive selling point. Larger types would fly into the busier airports and smaller aircraft into less popular destinations. The seventies saw a relaxation of these rules, first that two Tour Operators could charter one aircraft between them, and by the late 1970s Tour Operators were free to charter small blocks of seats on available aircraft. Having a dedicated team who had great flexibility to contact tour firms when a flight was chartered with several spare seats to offer them the spare capacity, usually saw that aircraft were seldom half empty.
The catering department didn't actually cook the meals! But they were responsible for what was offered to passengers on each flight. Scheduled flights were more expensive and those passengers would rightly expect a superior service. Not in terms of how they were treated - Dan-Air was well regarded for its service - but what they were to get for their money. Usually this would mean china and glass products, stainless steel cutlery and an excellent wine list. The catering department would be responsible for how those products looked on the tray. They would work alongside those responsible for business class lounges too. A team would be fully employed with 'Bonded Stores' for those that don't know what that means - these are the warehouses that store duty-free goods. Those products must be locked and secured at all times. Duty-free items are actually sealed in their trolley when they are taken on board an airliner. The seal is broken once the aircraft is airborne and re-sealed for landing. Buyers are in charge of choosing what new items they would like introduced to passengers to purchase. That is a lot of work when one considers that Dan-Air flew to more that 200 airports every year. Companies in foreign countries would need paying, often in a different currency.
Crewing carried out an important job within the airline. It was their duty to make sure that every flight had the required crew, who were within their flying limit and were qualified on the type. Taking all this into account, this was a stressful job. Especially with legal requirements and the fact that people were on holiday, standby, maternity or sickness leave.
Training was vital in a large airline. There would be many people who retired each year or who left aviation to start a family. This particularly affected cabin crew, who were sadly grounded at 30 years of age, or if they chose to get married, until a more enlightened approach came into force. For that reason cabin crew were recruited by the airline and trained at Horley, Manchester and Newcastle. Flight deck crew would usually already be qualified as pilots when they joined the company. Legally each pilot has to be qualified on each type of aircraft that they fly. Pilot training would often be carried out in the winter months when more spare aircraft were available. Dan-Air did have scholarship programme for pilots, who would be lucky enough to have their training paid for by the airline. The cabin crew training would normally consist of four weeks intensive training in classrooms along with sessions on aircraft mock-ups and local swimming pools. The engineering division had an apprentice programme of their own.
The accounts departments would be in charge of all aspects of finance within the group. This would include fuel costs, airport take-off and landing fees, and other regular expenses that airlines have. At the highest level finance directors have to find the money to purchase and sell aircraft - as well as all the machinery and equipment an airline uses. From aircraft steps to new tyres. The Engineering department had a finance department of its own, which makes good sense, an operation as complex as an airline needs to have departments that have a degree of autonomy.
The uniform store was a much larger department than you might imagine. Up to a thousand cabin crew were employed at any one time, and they would need uniforms that need to be kept pristine. Roughly 600 Flight deck and 400 ground crew would also need uniforms - and 1400 engineering staff would need overalls.
A small public relations department was created in the 1970s to respond to the increasing enquiries from the press and general requests from the public. Believe it or not, an airline can often receive fan mail. These might be from passengers who were happy - and from time to time - not happy with their experience. Letters praising members of staff or the company in general were all responded to. Memos would then be sent to each department so that the messages could be relayed to the relevant staff member. Members of the public - students in particular, wrote to Dan-Air seeking more information about the company. Perhaps for a school project or an aircraft spotter might want information about new aircraft in the fleet. The airline produced publicity material to accompany such requests. The public relations department would also produce display items for any trade fairs that the airline might attend. The public relations department would also work with advertising agencies to ensure that the airline caught the public's attention.
In days gone by Human Resources was known as 'personnel' Dan-Air had a team whose job it was to ensure that everyone was happy at work. They would filter through job applications and carry out disciplinary action.
Payroll was there to make sure everyone was paid on time, and that was not easy with more than 3,500 employees scattered all across the country and beyond! They were also responsible for sickness pay, maternity pay and ensuring that pension contributions were paid. As well as tax and national Insurance.
Sales staff would be office based and their main job was to answer calls from travel agents and members of the public wishing to purchase tickets for flights on the scheduled network. In the early days these would be filled out manually, before computer systems enabled staff to book tickets in real time. This could also involve interlining flights with other airlines to onward connection flights.
Each base airport would have a base manager and a team responsible for duties such as check-in, boarding and disembarkation and all other aspects of ground duty. The base manager would work with flight crews and be there to assist should anything go wrong. They would work with Operations staff, who are featured in another section of the site.
In addition to these departments there would be office staff who worked as secretaries, clerks, administrative staff and receptionists who might work for specific directors or managers. They would act as general office staff to help keep the airline running smoothly.
Dan-Air had its head office in the centre of London at New Broad Street and over the years further offices were opened at New City Court, Bilbao House and Newman House in Horley. Different departments worked at various locations before concentrating the operation to Newman House and Gatwick Airport. There would be cleaning staff and even a small catering department to provide food and drink to the many employees who worked in these office complexes.
It is worth noting that it was not just the pilots and cabin crew who made up Dan-Air, everyone from the board room to the cleaning staff all played their part.
GROUND STAFF IMAGES
Explore These Sections About Dan-Air People
DISCUSS THIS SUBJECT
0
reviews