Paul Daly, Weston Aviation’s operations director in Ireland on how to stand out from the competition.
What was your career path to your current role?
This year will be my twentieth working at Cork Airport. I started as a flight dispatcher with Servisair. I was promoted to station coordinator and while in that role, I noticed that Swissport was turning down handling for private aircraft as it was not the sector that they were in.
This made me curious, so I was keen to learn more and started up private aviation handling for Swissport. When Weston Aviation opened at Cork Airport I immediately knew it was my career path. I had caught the private aviation bug. Eight years later, I’ve not looked back and I’m thoroughly enjoying working in this sector.
What are the best and worst parts of your job?
The best is working with the aircraft and meeting different people, from CEOs to famous actors or musicians. I also get to work with a great team at Weston. The less favorable moments are working on the ramp during winter!
What has been the proudest achievement of your career so far?
Starting at Weston Aviation at Cork Airport — to building the company up to what we are now.
We are the busiest private jet handler at Cork Airport and we handle most of the private aviation aircraft that come here.
We have also managed to build up great relationships with our customers, especially the regular ones, who we look forward to meeting every time they arrive.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, we stayed open to provide an essential service to medical and air ambulance flights, sometimes being called upon in the middle of
the night.
Why has Weston Aviation rebranded?
The branding was 15 years old and we felt the look and feel needed updating. We wanted something strong and clear that would take us into the next phase of our journey. As Weston Aviation is now such a diverse service provider, offering services from FBO facilities and handling, passenger and cargo aircraft charter, fuel services, hangarage, network partnerships and consultancy, we needed a new clear logo design and message that covered all areas of the business.
How do you stand out from your competitors?
By providing a very professional and personal service to both passengers and crew. It is an encouraging sign when a regular passenger arrives and greets you by your name. To me, that means we made an impression during their previous visit, that we must have done a great job on that occasion and we are definitely doing things right.
What does the future hold for Weston Aviation?
The future is looking extremely exciting with developments in each sector of the business with additional FBOs, investment in our existing locations along with network expansion with key partnerships with products in the UK, Ireland and overseas.
