Koen Blom as a Senior Pilot Crew Scheduler @ United Airlines

If this isn’t your first job since graduation: what were your other jobs and at which companies?

My first job after graduation and also my previous job was Turnaround Coordinator at Schiphol Airport for Swissport.

How did you get your current job?

I graduated when Covid-19 was still in full effect, however I wanted to work somewhere outside Europe. So I started applying at all different kind of airlines and airports around the world for different jobs. In the end United Airlines was one of the airlines that was hiring a lot of people to prepare for the extreme demand of passengers wanting to travel after Covid.

What are your daily operations?

I am responsible for the coordination of pilots and flights that operate in the operation today and have consequences for the operation tomorrow. I ensure that all flights are properly staffed with a legal contractual and FAA FAR 117 flight crew for the day off. 0 to 24hrs out. Also, analysing options to keep flights on time by swapping pilots or recrewing pilots. Or helping out by crewing recovery/rescue flights. All in collaboration with the Operations Managers in the NOC (Network Operations Center).

What do you like the most at your job?

The diversity of work. One day you can just be monitoring the whole operation and nothing special going on. The other day you are trying to move pilots around to keep flights on time for domestic flying in the US or you can be setting up a rescue mission to save passengers of an international flight that diverted in the middle of nowhere. For example, a LHR to SFO flight diverted to Iqaluit (YFB) in the Canadian Artic or a LAX to SYD flight that diverted to Pago Pago, American Samoa (PPG)

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

All options are still open. Maybe get my Dispatch license or maybe switches roles in the NOC or maybe go back to the airport and work in the SOC (Station Operations Center).
In the end I would like to become an Operations Manager at an International out-station.

What do you like the most from your education that helps you out currently in your work?

The internships. The internships gave me a better idea how airlines are run as a company and how many moving parts are involved to have just one aircraft go from A to B.

Are you still connected with the Aviation Academy?

Not really but I did give one guest lecture last year October regarding Pilot Crew Scheduling at United Airlines