Stine Norrid: 25 years of excitement and love for aviation

Working in aviation is both extremely fun and extremely challenging. Maybe that‘s why so many people choose to grow their careers in aviation. Well, at least for me, that is one of the reasons I found myself in this industry.

My career at Aviator started back in August 1997 when I became an intern in the company. Back then, the company was called Copenhagen Air Service (CAS) and had a cargo warehouse. My internship was set to a 2-year period, and I had the privilege to work at passenger check-in and arrival service, as a Ramp supervisor’s assistant, in the cargo centre, in the finance and planning department. This gave me detailed knowledge of different functions and processes in the ground handling business and was an incredibly valuable experience.

Once my internship finished, I was encouraged to apply for a team coordinator position in the arrival service. I was still quite young (the early twenties) but ended up getting the job because I had a management that believed in me despite my young age. For many years I had the responsibility for our arrival service and later I moved on to Landside Manager, then Passenger Manager, and now I am in a position of a Station Manager.

I am responsible for the operational part of Aviator in Copenhagen which includes the Ramp department, Passenger department, and our operation. I work with safety, budgets, working environment, KPI/performance towards our customers, communication and negotiations with the unions, optimisation of work processes, resource planning, staffing, and developing new business ideas.

Aviation as an industry is very attractive to many professionals out there. To me, funnily enough, what I like the most about aviation is also the most challenging thing about working here. It’s the fact that you never know what will “hit you” when you get up in the morning. Every day has new challenges, and the aviation world is in constant change. When I finish my workday, it has very often turned out differently than planned. That is part of the job and what keeps it fun. No days are the same.

One of the things I find interesting about aviation is digital development. We have already been a part of this journey the last couple of years and are facing more in the future. I led the project together with Copenhagen Airport when our first airline started using self-service check-in machines, self-service bag drop-off and self-service boarding. Having passengers change their mindset into using the self-service concept was quite an interesting journey – for me, for the passengers, and our staff.?

At airside, we have also seen big changes in the way our ramp agents work over the last couple of years. iPads are now used by ramp agents at the airside for correct loading instructions of aircraft. This required a new way of working for our loadmasters and good English writing skills. I am pleased to see how they manage this new digital tool and the responsibility that comes with it.?

While aviation historically has been a very male-dominated industry, I don’t see being a woman in top management as a challenge. Although I often experience being the only woman at operational top management meetings, I have never felt discriminated against or experienced any harassment. Having a management team with a combination of men and women is the right way to get a versatile management group, who can challenge each other in a good and constructive way. It is well known that men and women don’t always see things the same way – and if we manage to see this as a positive thing and can accommodate this, we can learn a lot from each other.

All in all, I love the aviation industry and my 25-year anniversary is coming up in 2022. As long as I still wake up in the morning and look forward to going to work, I will continue my work in Aviator - who knows, maybe I’ll take 25 more years to get tired of aviation.