Dispatch from the Road: France and Switzerland

From time-to-time I will be writing a themed piece called “Dispatch from the Road.” It will just be insights and observations from my travels as I meet with customers, vendors, and our stations around-the-world.

My last trip took me around Europe to Cannes, France, then back to the Euro Jet office in Prague followed by a weeklong trip in Switzerland covering Zurich, Bern, and Geneva.

I arrived in the town of Cannes the night before the Conference. My train had broken down for 45 minutes in some rural part of France where no one spoke a word of English. Luckily for me the train started working again as I do not speak a word of French (other than Bonjour, Merci, and Not Possible).

The town of Cannes, France is world renown because every Spring it hosts the famous film festival. We stayed at the Hotel Renior (the Monet was sold out) located across from the festival site. Appropriately enough, our lobby was decorated with movie memorabilia, though no sign of French Impressionist paintings.

Cannes played host to the second annual Business Airport World Expo. Last year it was hosted at Farnborough Airport outside London for the first time. This gathering brought together aviation professionals from all different sides of the industry, including Operators, FBOs, trip support companies, and fuelers. Euro Jet was just one of a handful of ground handling support companies, the rest tended to be FBOs.

The foot traffic at the Conference was slow, but the quality of people who displayed was very high. If someone had not recently attended Schedulers and Dispatchers in San Diego, you would be concerned by the sluggishness of the attendance in Cannes. However Schedulers confirmed that Aviation is alive and well.

From my personal point of view, the Conference needed to be in a better location with an airport nearby or easily accessible by car from many different European points. Cannes is not the right location. Nice is the nearest airport, but is a considerable drive with traffic (we tested it out). Aviation is a profession that works people hard at all hours. In order to get people to go to the Conferences, they really need to be in centrally located places where they can pop in and out. Though Cannes is a beautiful place and finding an excuse to go there is not the worst idea.

My co-workers and I drove 12 hours over two days back to Prague. Fortunately the weather held up and I went for a great walk that Saturday around the Medieval city just wearing a sweater as it was 55 degrees Fahrenheit (a stark contrast to 2 degrees just two weeks prior). That Monday the road trip resumed as we drove 5 hours to Zurich to begin a round of operator meetings.

Over the next 3 days, my co-worker Attila and I met with 10 different Swiss Operators that represent over 400 aircraft flying around-the-world. As someone who has traveled around the United States and conducted many meetings, I was intrigued to observe the differences.

1. You do not come early. Come right on time. In the United States you are expected to be early and then you wait. If you are not a little early, it is a sign of disinterest.
2. We ran late a couple times and people were fine with that. Run late in the US and it is once again a sign of disinterest and your meeting is cancelled.
3. Most people dressed very causally, but still maintained a trendy European style. It was as if everyone shopped at Banana Republic. I need to learn how to do that.
4. People were genuinely friendly and engaging. Not to say people in the United States are not, but this was a different level and more enthusiastic than I am used to.
5. Everyone wore a very nice watch. Well we were in Switzerland…
6. The Swiss like their food. Steak Tartare and Veal seem to be crowd pleasers and also an indication of which side of the border we were on.

I had been told Geneva and Zurich are two of the most expensive cities in the world. No kidding! By the end of the trip I was just not looking at the prices. While I was still looking a fish dish (Salmon…) with French Fries at a cheaper restaurant was $45. The soup was $17. Do not even ask what the Lobster cost….

Next stop is Hong Kong and Shanghai for ABACE (Asia Bace). Keep reading this blog for more updates.

Stand-by for more travel updates and please feel free to comment. I would really like to encourage people to post any observations between doing business in Europe and the United States.