World Aviation Group seeks to double its capacity - CEO

World Aviation Group, the aviation, travel and tourism services and support business, could double its capacity in three years, chief executive officer Dominic Attard told The Times Business.

The group, jointly owned by Air Malta and Cassar Aviation Services Pty Ltd of Australia, is looking to grow each of its three arms: its multi-lingual contact centre, business process outsourcing and back office operation, and airline representation. All functions, which have a total of 160 staff, are based at the old airport terminal in Luqa.

World Aviation Group is currently bidding for more business even beyond its core industry and could venture into offering support to the banking and telecoms industries.

By promising to bring value to new clients' operations, the group is also hoping it will be allowed to tap into government and EU-funded schemes to support its bid to expand and diversify its client base. Around 120 work stations are currently active at the centre which has the capacity to accommodate 200.

The team incorporates highly educated and skilled personnel, and counts lawyers, teachers and criminologists among its ranks. These professionals, Mr Attard explained, are keen to practise their international language skills and are a key asset as high standard language skills are difficult to come by.

World Aviation Group has a dedicated sales and marketing team on the ground and is present at major trade events, but Mr Attard emphasised industry contacts are essential in the industry.

World Aviation Group was conceived as World Aviation Systems 20 years ago as a general sales agency representing international airlines in Malta, including British Airways. It was a joint venture between Air Malta and World Aviation Services of Australia, a subsidiary of Concorde International Pty Ltd.

At the time, Leslie Cassar, an Egyptian-born Australian of Maltese ancestry, was joint managing director of the Australian conglomerate.

The company grew slowly to represent other airlines. In 2002, the Australian business was sold, and Mr Cassar and his son Anthony retained the interests in the Maltese business.

Air Malta and their Australian partners decided to restructure their Malta operation by venturing into a new area of aviation and travel services.

World Aviation Group is now one of Malta's most successful private-public partnerships.

Centrecom Ltd, a multi-lingual contact centre operating in six languages was set up tailor made to Air Malta's requirements. Over €1 million was invested in call centre technology and professional linguistic skills were sourced. Eighty per cent of staff members are Maltese.

Air Malta closed down its overseas reservation units in major capitals including Frankfurt, London, Paris, Rome, Brussels and Amsterdam, a move which led to cost savings of around €4 million.

Air Malta was previously losing around 40 per cent of calls - Centrecom reduced the call loss to just two per cent. Spurred by the success of the operation, the service began to be marketed and the first client came on board within three months; a further three signed up in the first year. They include Luxair, Air Italy, Malta Direct and Belleair Holidays.

Next week, a service will be initiated for new client Afriqiyah Airways of Libya, covering the airline's markets in the UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy and South Africa.

Mr Attard pointed out that very high service levels are in place at the contact centre - the lost call ratios are below five per cent; 85 per cent are answered within 30 seconds.

Staff members are trained to handle clients' products and adhere to each client's standard operating procedures. The set up includes dedicated teams and flexible staff. Incentives are also in place for staff able to handle additional client portfolios. Training is ongoing and consists in classroom sessions, coaching on the shopfloor, and mentoring.

Centrecom went one step further and commercialised the acquired knowledge and skills to provide training services to other players.

"Knowledge is an off balance sheet asset," Mr Attard pointed out. "We have systems in place to capture and document our knowledge which is translated into standard operating procedures with supporting process maps uploaded onto our intranet. This is essential for smooth operations and knowledge transfer. Our aim is to provide a continuous knowledge cycle for all ranks within our business."

Centrecom operates between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. Monday to Saturday and until 5 p.m on Sundays, but Mr Attard said the function will go 24-hour once clients from the Southern hemisphere come on board.

Two years ago, Air Malta outsourced its revenue accounting. Just under 90 staff were involved in the labour-intensive operation that saw the handling of all revenue documentation. Business Process Support Services Ltd was created over 14 months to manage highly sensitive commercial data.

A team that has grown to 35 (including 10 of the original Air Malta team) now processes over €250 million worth of revenue data.

Aviation Online, the group's third function, lists itself among the leading general sales agencies in Malta and currently represents such industry heavyweights as Etihad, Qantas and Brussels Airlines. Through partnerships on the ground, Etihad and Brussels Airlines are also represented in Libya; the Abu Dhabi airline is also represented in Sicily.

A web of partnerships in various countries sees Aviation Online represent Air Malta in over 15 countries, including niche and emerging tourism markets for Malta like China, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Korea, Cyprus, Poland, Australia, New Zealand, and Hungary.

The US market is directly linked through toll-free lines with other offices in Malta. All markets are earmarked for significant development, according to Mr Attard. Group travel is a particular strength: over 3,000 travellers were attracted to Malta from Japan in the past year alone. China has significant potential where travel related to English language tuition is concerned. Religious tourism could be tapped from South Korea.

The group is now eyeing prospective developments in Maltese legislation and infrastructure to cater for aircraft registration, particularly corporate jets.

Mr Attard has already engaged the services of professionals in this area and has also joined a financial services firm to go to market together.