A Lifelong Flight

By FAICAL ALLOU

Sam is a professor in business strategy who gets the opportunity to escape his daily routine and go to Bali on a rescue mission of a newly formed airline. He needs to navigate an industry unknown to him with a team of first-timers while escaping the demons of his past and keeping an eye on the "red line" drawn by those who want him gone.

• Language: English
• Publisher: FAICAL ALLOU
• Release date: Nov 17, 2018
• ISBN: 9781718165106

Book preview

Author Preface

I started writing this book in January 2015. Since 2005 I had been working with airlines and suppliers. I was in Berlin, Germany and I had just left my job at an airline technology supplier to start my own company. The start-up I launched was in the music industry, naively I thought I could make it in a totally unknown field, but I was wrong.

I wrote it as a hobby and I remember trying to set a steady pace but it only lasted for a couple of months before I got too busy with work. It took me almost four years to finish it including long pauses of several months sometimes but I never gave up. I spent so long learning the ins and outs of the industry, stepping out of the industry without leaving anything behind felt like a waste. I have worked in almost all areas from loading bags on an airplane to helping make billion-dollars investment decision in boardrooms. Although I have often been critical I will forever be grateful to the airline industry for having taken me to so many places. I am also thankful to the people I met and my mentors for their confidence and for listening to what I had to say. This is the best way for me to say thank you but I need to leave now, let’s meet again someday.

This book is a work of fiction, none of the events related but they would not surprise me if they were to happen. The story is inspired by my own experience working for an airline, as a consultant, account director and traveling the world. While characters and events are fiction, facts related to the industry are real, although surprising at times.

I wrote this book for people interested in aviation, business, and travel; those who want to understand more about what happens in the back office of airline headquarters. I wrote it with the idea that it could be picked up at the airport when traveling long haul and would make for good entertainment during the flight. It should be at least better than reading the in-flight magazine the third time around.

I hope you enjoy reading it and learn something.

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 11

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 14

CHAPTER 1

Y ou can’t be everything for everybody, a strategic choice means leaving something behind. A valid strategic target should have a valid contrary... Sam notices a silence and he expects the usual request for clarification.

-  What do you mean by a valid contrary? asks a student on the left side of the room.

Sam is happy to hear the question. He’s been giving the course for three years now, and he knows that most people don’t understand his statement without an explanation. He hasn’t found a better way to express it in one sentence and being asked means some students are listening ...

-  Is being the most profitable company in my field a valid strategic target? You may think, yes but is being the least profitable company in my field a valid one? It is the same answer for both questions.

-  But a company can lower its price to attract customers and be the least profitable in the ....

Sam cuts it short:

-  You’re confusing target and means to achieve it... The answer is no, a company will never target to be the least profitable company in its field. It might become the least profitable as a consequence of other choices, but it will never be a valid goal...

Another student intervenes:

-  Seeking profit but not the maximum is a valid strategy isn’t it?

-  I’d say it is incomplete, you’ll need to define it better. Sacrificing profit by offering best in class customer service is valid... Alright, this is the end of the hour, for tomorrow you should all come up with a one-liner valid strategy.

He dismisses the class and starts packing his bag.

Sam is a professor of business strategy at the University of Cologne, Germany. His background is in science but he realized that a life in scientific research would not fulfill him. He was deeply fascinated by science and the unique truth it seeks but he wanted to work with people on people matters. In the world of people and business, the truth is never unique and depends as much on what happens as on who’s telling the story. He finds it more challenging and more entertaining. On the other hand, he is also very critical of politics and cannot accept that people make decisions with little to no analysis, and particularly when they are not based on any of the various truths that may exist. He cannot understand how someone can make a decision disregarding all facts and for the sole purpose of pleasing a small group of people. When having to decide he will always lean toward long-term gains over short-term relief.

He found the perfect middle ground in business strategy. He enjoys navigating the ocean of possibilities with data and analysis, coming up with scenarios and expected outcomes and rallying people around what he thought was the best decision. The Best decision being the mathematical likelihood of the decision being accepted and executed, weighted by the numerical outcome in his own words as taught in his Strategy Consulting module.

He started his career as a strategy consultant where he excelled at bringing people to like him, convincing them and bringing them along. He truly enjoyed it and was considered highly in the firm that hired him as an intern and for which he ended up working for 15 years.

He joined the University of Cologne, Germany three years ago where he’s been teaching Business Strategy to a growing audience.

He packs his documents on the table, as the students are leaving the room. He feels like this is going to be another good year. It is mid-November, the weather is still sunny although nature is getting ready for the cold days. He looks through the window and he thinks to himself that he likes this time of the year. He took his last vacations in September, and as always, he was in California. He is refreshed, relaxed and ready for a year of classes, conferences, publications, and the usual office politics...

He finishes packing and goes back to his small office that he keeps in an organized mess. He sits on his chair and gets ready to head back home when the phone on his desk starts ringing.

Sam is appreciated by most of his colleagues, he is good company and often comes up with interesting topics, such as the overdue revolution of the umbrella and the ethical questions to ask about procreation if we get to live forever. He has a sense of humor that tends heavily toward sarcasm but he knows what to say, and most importantly to whom.

-  Sam Mapleton speaking.

-  Sam, it’s Ben. How are you? Wanna grab a drink tonight before going home?

Sam is single, he’s never got married. He says he hasn’t found the right person but he hasn’t put any effort into it either. His evenings are often available and he doesn’t refuse an invitation when there is no reason to.

-  Sure, shall we meet at Papa Joe’s?

-  Yes, 7.30pm.

-  OK.

Ben works in the same department, he’s an economist and has been an academic all his life. He is married to a painter and has two daughters. Ben doesn’t have a very developed artistic sensitivity but he approaches art from an economist point of view. He loves the disconnect between the utility and the cost of art and it has been researching on the topic for a few years with a colleague in the Art History department.

WHEN BEN ENTERS THE bar, Sam is already there, it is 7.25pm. Sam hates to be late. He can’t say that he is never late, but he’d rather wait than make people wait. He is sitting at the bar his elbows on the counter, a posture easy to recognize. He is 40 years old and he is slightly shorter than his colleagues but it’s barely noticeable, except for him. He often walks with his hands in his pockets which makes his head bend forward and he appears even shorter. He can’t keep his hands out of his pocket because he doesn’t know what to do with them. When he does, he joins them behind his back to hide them from other people’s eyes but mostly from himself. When sitting, he bends over and he looks a lot older than what he really is.

He usually wears a suit and a tie, he likes looking good but he doesn’t mind wearing the same clothes several days in a row, especially after work or on holidays. He is wearing a red pullover and old jeans, as old as him as he pretends.

Papa Joe’s is a Jazz Bar in the old town with Trumpets used as pendant lights where there is a live concert every day. It is supposed to be the oldest Jazz Club in Germany and receives relatively famous guests. The barman, Tony is a simple yet great man, always smiling, serving drinks his own way, pouring equally wine, beer and coke half in the glass and half around it.

Ben approaches and with a tap on the shoulder

-  Hi mate, how are things?

-  .. hmm good but not much new. Tell me do you know how long has this bar been here?

-  I don’t quite remember, but I remember that summer seven years ago when you drank so much you left your car here and I had to carry you to your bed.

-  Alright, let’s not talk about that... This is the oldest Jazz bar in Germany, it is more than 40 years old. It’s a very long lifespan for a bar, isn’t it?

-  The whole neighborhood changed and probably none of the restaurants that were here still are.

-  Why do you think this bar stayed in business for so long?

-  I don’t really know, I just know that I like coming here...

-  That, I believe is precisely why it is still in business. People, you, me, like it.

-  What’s your point?

-  I am just thinking about something that I came across about the airline industry. Here are the facts: except for some rare exceptions, airlines that people hate the most are the ones making the most money. Isn’t that strange?

-  Sure it is. I haven’t thought about that before. But making the most money now doesn’t mean they’ll stay forever in business.

-  That’s correct but most airlines people like actually lose money and eventually close down. There are some really unusual behaviors in that industry and I’d be interested to learn more about it.

Sam takes a sip from his glass and stares at it. His eyes are always wandering around and he avoids looking at people in the eyes. He developed the capacity to read people. He finds it uncomfortable looking at people in the eyes because when he does he starts reading them. Many people complained to him that he doesn’t listen, but he does, maybe too much for his own good. In fact, he does, even more, he listens, reads and guesses so well he knows what is coming up in a conversation before it even starts. This trait made it difficult for him to entertain superficial relationships, he has a limited number of close friends, some of them for decades.

-  How are you going to go about it?

-  I want to know more about the industry, just out of curiosity. I don’t think there is anything that hasn’t been written about it already. I even saw mathematical models to reduce the time for boarding by optimizing the seating order.

-  I’m sure you can find something to write about. You’ve been very.... creative since I’ve known you.

-  Creative... is that a euphemism for crazy? ... (he smiles and doesn’t expect an answer) You know, maybe I want to do something different this year.

-  Like what?

-  I don’t know, I need to think about it.

The conversation went on for some time with the usual topics, cars, technology, women and the Sam specials, including how to make the perfect dry-aged beef and how hard it is to find the right fridge...etc. It was a good evening. When Sam noticed Ben looking at his watch, he understood it was time and decided to go back home. Sam has a German car but not because he likes powerful cars. It is quite the opposite, in fact, he tends to drive like a 60-year-old man. He doesn’t want to spend time with maintenance and an empirical evaluation showed him he should stick to BMW. He buys