Favorite Parts Of Being A Performance And Planning Manager At An Airline
Alex enjoys contributing to the significant growth of their airline's West Coast presence, a previously under-invested area. The role's appeal stems from combining "the ability to interpret all day that information," including qualitative customer feedback and quantitative data like pricing and travel trends, to develop strategic plans, making for a "really fun" and impactful career experience.
Data Analysis, Project Management, Teamwork, Problem-Solving, Strategic Planning
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Alex Olafsson
Manager, Performance and Planning
Global Airline Company
Kalamazoo College 2011
UCLA Anderson MBA
Economics
Aerospace, Aviation & Defense
Business Strategy
Scholarship Recipient, Pell Grant Recipient, Took Out Loans, Student Athlete
Video Highlights
1. Working on a team focused on expanding the company's presence in a specific region (West Coast).
2. Collaborating with the team to develop strategies to achieve overarching goals.
3. Combining qualitative and quantitative data analysis to understand customer behavior and market trends, which helps make informed decisions and see the full picture.
Transcript
What do you enjoy most about being in your current role?
What I enjoy most in my current role is being on a team focused on growing our position on the west coast. This is an area of our company that was perhaps underinvested in 10 years ago, so helping with that growth is great.
I also like the ability to look at our overarching goals and figure out how to achieve them. I get to work directly with my team to strategize and implement those plans.
I love the people I work with; they are incredibly smart and interesting. I also have a good mix of interpreting information, like what customers are saying, what's in the news, and what people consider important.
This includes understanding what's factual, like how much people are willing to pay for flights, where people are actually traveling, and demographics from census information. For instance, corporate travelers might say they want to pay for more instances of a service, but do they actually?
Being able to combine qualitative and quantitative data is very interesting. It helps you see the full picture, and I believe there's value in looking at both sides together. I think that's a really fun part of the job.