The Allplane Podcast

Helicopters is one area of the aviation industry that, I must admit, I know less about than I would like to. This is why I invited one of the persons out there that knows most about them to speak on this episode of the podcast.Charlotte Pedersen manages one of the top helicopter operators in the VIP segment. That is helicopters that cater to the rich and famous of the world. As a matter of fact, most of these helicopters may complement a private jet and a yacht as part of ultra high network individual’s mobility package.Charlotte has also a long career in the helicopter world and, more generally, in aviation, both in the private sector, where she’s served at several companies and boards as well as in the public sector. In fact, she started with a stint at the Royal Danish Air Force flying the mighty Sea King and flying the Queen of Denmark on occasion!With Charlotte we talked about the business of operating luxury helicopters all over the world, about new trends in rotor wing aircraft and, of course, about how Covid-19 has impacted the helicopter industry.

One of the great things about aviation is that, as an industry, it attracts a fair number of entrepreneurs and dynamic personalities.This is the case of our guest today. Carl Legein is a serial aviation entrepreneur. He is the founder of Belgium-based The Aviation Factory, which manages a portfolio of aviation businesses.Vizion Air, for example, is a virtual carrier that operates ad-hoc services for specific collectives, like, for example, the European Parliament. But The Aviation Factory stable of brands include also an executive aviation booking marketplace, companies that provide services to passengers on the ground, specialized charter providers, logistics operators and, last but not least, a company offering flights in WW2-era aircraft such as the P-51 Mustang, “the Cadillac of the Skies”!Ladies and Gentlement, take your seats, because we are going to speak today about aviation entrepreneurship with Carl Legein!

Today’s guest, Magadalena Osowska works a senior cabin crew for one of the major Gulf carriers. She is constantly shuttling between different continents and time zones. She has even flown on some repatriation flights during this exceptional pandemic period. We have talked about this, of course, in the hope of getting a glimpse of what travel looks like in these exceptional times.But today’s episode is, more generally, about cabin crew life, both from a professional - ever wondered how you can start a career as cabin crew and what the career path looks like? - and practical perspective - how do you organize your life when you are constantly flying long-haul?

True, air travel accounts for quite a small share of overall carbon emissions (in the region of 2-3% currently), but nevertheless its high profile and visibility make it an obvious target for climate campaigners.The good news: there is an ever growing number of initiatives from within and outside the aerospace industry that aim to tackle this issue, with electric propulsion for aircraft getting most of the attention.The bad news: electric may not be the most promising technology when it comes to moving towards a greener aviation industry.Our guest today, aeronautic engineer and former fighter pilot Bjorn Fehrm, has studied thoroughly a number of different technologies that attempt to get green airliners up in the air.Bjorn has crunched the numbers and has drawn some conclusions about what the thinks are the most realistic perspectives in the field of green flying. He’s summed it up in a series of 20 blog posts full of detailed information and analysis about environmentally-friendly propulsion technologies.The title of the series “Why e in ePlane shall stand for environment, not electric” already gives you some clues about where this is going.Ready to listen what these are and the implications for the future of air travel?

Executive aviation has the allure of the uber-exclusive.While private jets remain the ultimate status symbol, entrepreneurs like former RAF pilot Adam Twidell have been working hard to make them more accessible. The company he co-founded with his wife, PrivateFly, has brought transparency and convenience to executive jet booking.In this episode of the podcast, I speak with Adam about private jets, but also about his entrepreneurial journey and the way PrivateFly has leveraged digital channels to carve for itself a place at this very exclusive segment of the industry and how it launched the wildly popular “most scenic airport” contest, that got massive media coverage worldwide (disclaimer: I have been a member of the jury a couple of times!).

Airliner procurement often involves thinking 20 years in the future. Is this still possible? With the aviation industry in complete turmoil, we wanted to find out how the different aircraft manufacturers and aircraft programmes around the world…Addison Schonland is the co-founder of AirInsight, a consultancy and media business (with whom I have had the chance to collaborate on several occasions) and someone that knows the aviation inside out.It is always interesting to speak with him to get the pulse of the industry and this is exactly what I’ve done in this second episode of the Allplane podcast…

Sal Artigas is a commercial pilot and aviation entrepreneur. In this episode he will give us some insights about life as a pilot, flying turboprops in places as different as the Maldives and Northern Ireland. We will also speak about his experience setting up a helicopter operator in Barcelona and his popular youtube channel, where hundreds of thousands of visitors check some really cool airport approaches…