When Joanne Goodall joined TAG Aviation as a client relationship manager in 2017, it was during a period of growth and development for the company. During 2019 TAG’s long-time shareholders the Ojjeh family sold their interest in the group businesses, starting with the sale of the maintenance sites to Dassault. Soon after Farnborough Airport in the UK was sold to Macquarie Infrastructure.
In the first quarter of 2020, the majority interest in TAG Aviation SA and its subsidiaries, which included the aircraft management and charter division, was purchased by Young Brothers Aviation. Young Brothers had been shareholders of the TAG Group since 2003.
Goodall became CEO of TAG Aviation’s European business during the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020. She is phlegmatic about that time, one suspects with the luxury
of hindsight.
“When Covid-19 hit we were busy. It was a lot of responsibility to take on during a difficult time. But it was also an opportunity to redefine the business and the scope for the future,” she says.
Goodall is based at TAG Aviation’s European Operations office at Farnborough Airport. The modern and spacious building offers great views of the airport, but there is no question that the focus of TAG’s employees is now building upon their strong reputation for business aviation service delivery and operational efficiency from inside of the office.
Efficiency and trust
Many aviation commentators feared for the legacy of TAG Aviation at the time of its acquisition by Young Brothers. But restructuring has focused on building up the company’s original core business of aircraft management and charter.
TAG Aviation holds AOCs in the UK, Malta, San Marino, and the Cayman Islands and manages a fleet of about 80 business jets in Asia and Europe.
Goodall believes the new owners value the TAG name and have sought to protect and enhance it’s reputation, which has been established over 50 years.
“We have a legacy of providing high-quality services. Aircraft owners understand what it means to be part of our brand,” she says.
A recent achievement Goodall highlights is how the company has improved the process of operating a new aircraft for a customer. “This year we have bought in a new aircraft nearly every month globally,” she says. “Under our own AOCs in a highly regulated market that is a real achievement.
“The market has had two years with really high levels of new ownership. The team has worked hard at making things more efficient to take advantage of that.”
Aircraft management companies are most often bought in at the very end of a sales and acquisition process, making project management difficult. Despite the challenges, TAG managed to start operating an aircraft this year just two days after it had been delivered to the customer. “The team achieved it by working hard and understanding the process inside-out. Our knowledge of regulation is second to none,” Goodall says.
This hard work has been backed up by a complete upgrade of the company’s IT systems since the Covid-19 pandemic, which has enabled major efficiency improvements in operations and processes.
Another enabler of improvements in the management and charter business has been the divestment of the associated businesses. Goodall says, “In a way, it has helped us to further legitimize our trusted advisor status with our clients, because we can no longer be seen as pushing the other TAG Aviation businesses like the maintenance one,” she says.
Culture
While improving efficiency is important for any company’s profitability, Goodall emphasizes that it is never placed before client trust and the provision of high-quality services the company is known for: “We have an efficient infrastructure but its one where we can give individualized service. Every owner has different needs.
“Our customer service teams are human and local and understand what clients need. Each aircraft has a dedicated family of staff assigned to it.”
TAG Aviation employs around 600 people worldwide and by far the biggest group within the company is the pilots and cabin staff. “They are the most important brand ambassadors we have,” says Goodall.
Training is a vital component of providing excellent customer service and therefore a vital part of TAG Aviation. There are training facilities in Australia, Hong Kong and at Farnborough.
But Goodall, who has spent 20 years working in aviation looks for and gets more from TAG staff. She talks about the culture at TAG and aviation with enthusiasm: “Within the company and our people, there is a passion for business aviation and a passion for TAG. A lot of the people have been here a long time and are emotionally invested in the company. They are proud of what they do and believe in TAG’s values of integrity and high quality.
“TAG attracts the sort of people who love what they do. We have a reputation for being a company that is passionate about aviation with integrity. That hasn’t changed over the last three years and people want to be part of that.”
Goodall says that the identity of the company has the idea of cooperation at its core, while emphasizing that an individual’s strengths and skills will be important in different areas of the business – whether that is maintenance, pilots, customer service or operational management. “Ultimately, we are a team, and we are all constantly looking for ways to improve,” she says. “That commitment is so strong here – I often see people put the extra work in to meet a client’s needs, sometimes to their own detriment.”
This passion is also clearly demonstrated in TAG’s FBO in Macau which opened in 2019 with one of the most efficient and friendliest FBO team in the business, she adds.
Brexit and sustainability
Although Covid-19 had a major effect on business aviation, most industry insiders would agree that it was largely a positive for the sector. It promoted the industry’s attributes of flexibility, its role in the society and required companies to build up resiliency and agility.
TAG is a global company and is also a UK AOC holder. From Goodall’s perspective, the largest continuing challenge for the company is Brexit.
“We are seeing more repercussions now than we did during the Brexit process from a regulatory standpoint. UK regulation is having to diversify from European, and we are slowly seeing those changes seep through to the business,” she says.
These regulatory differences create an extra layer of complexity in areas such as recruitment and the workforce, importing and exporting aircraft parts, licensing and maintenance.
Goodall says, “If you have an aircraft based in the UK, it has to be UK-piloted and it has to be UK maintained. If that aircraft is in the Middle East and it needs maintenance you may have a problem.
“The result is we are beginning to see a reticence to be under the UK’s AOC system.”
Away from the operational, Goodall sees sustainability as another major issue facing the sector. She says, “Business aviation gets a lot of bad press, but it is at the forefront of sustainability measures in many areas, like sustainable aviation fuel and aircraft and engine development, where we are ahead of commercial aviation.
“The narrative needs to be a little bit clearer. We have the opportunity as a group of businesses to get a more positive message about business aviation out there and be heard.”
Career course
Goodall studied criminal psychology at university – an unlikely background for an aviation professional. However, she is also a helicopter pilot and once considered joining the RAF.
Becoming the CEO of a large aviation company is therefore not as big of a surprise to Goodall as one might imagine. Indeed, she was recently reminded by a mentor that during the early stages of her career she had expressed an ambition to become the boss of an aviation firm when he asked what her long-term goals were.
She is also a female CEO, in an industry where women make up just 20% of the total workforce. Interestingly, more than half of TAG Aviation’s leadership positions are held by women, but there is no positive discrimination in the company. “It has to be the right person first – with the right attitude and skills,” says Goodall. “And truthfully its mostly about attitude. You can teach skills, but you have to be passionate about aviation too.
“Aviation isn’t just a job, it gets into your blood and makes you want to go and look up at the skies, to know more about aircraft. Even now, I still go out to an aircraft and think wow – this is amazing.”
According to Goodall despite the change in ownership and restructuring, the culture of TAG Aviation and its values have remained intact. In Europe, this is perhaps in no small part thanks to her stewardship of the business, and her own passion for aviation.
