Katri Ronkainen: I quickly realised that I have found my place

Aviation is an important part of my life, and I have no plans to change that.

I started my career in 1999 at Aviator Finland. Much has changed since then – owners, name, colleagues. Yet it is still as close to my heart as ever. I started in the arrival service as an arrival service agent, while studying at university at the same time. Step by step, I trained myself to be able to do almost all passenger service operational roles. I thought that this would be just a temporary step in my career, yet I quite quickly realised that I have found my place and I really enjoyed my work.

Nowadays, I am acting as a passenger service manager in Helsinki. I am responsible for Aviator Finland’s Helsinki passenger service department. Due to Covid-19 situation, our team has decreased, and we have now some 80 employees. My main responsibilities are HR duties (recruitment, layoffs, agreements, union cooperation), resource planning, budgeting, developments, airline and third-party cooperation, operational processes.

Honestly, even though our industry is not easy or simple, I enjoy it and love being a part of an international field. Every day is different, and I never know what might happen. It is an industry where things are changing and developing constantly, and it is exciting to be part of this change.

Our industry has changed a lot during the last 5 or 10 years and sometimes it is good to stop and think about what has happened. While aviation is constantly shifting, some things are slow to change. Ground handling is a highly regulated industry and safety is always a number 1 priority.

I have also noticed that people in this industry are very passionate and engaged, with a great sense of humour and professionalism. And I find that humour can sometimes do great things. I remember we once had a huge snowstorm in Europe, Helsinki included, and were faced with a lot of issues. We had a busy day in arrival service and, unfortunately, a lot of luggage was left behind in departure station. My colleague has been working for a long time already when a business passenger came to her desk with an inquiry. And my tired, yet still polite colleague greeted him with ‘welcome to HEL’. Passenger started laughing and said ‘yes, indeed to HEL’. Finally, we all were laughing and even received positive feedback from this passenger.

All in all, I enjoy my work and believe that your skills, achievements, and personality are incredibly important. For me equality is an important value, thus I am so happy that over my career I was not faced with discrimination because I am a woman. Maybe, when I was younger, I felt that I had to prove myself, work a bit harder to show that I am more than just a young girl with a pretty smile. I am quite bold, outspoken and I can set my limits well, so throughout my career, this was not a big issue for me.