\n\tBy Lorri Freifeld<\/p>\n
\n\tOrchestrating a smooth training transition during a merger or acquisition is never easy. But when it involves the joining of two major airlines, well, fasten your seatbelts. There almost definitely will be turbulence ahead.<\/p>\n
\n\tJust ask Scott Nutter, Flight Operations general manager at Delta Air Lines. He\u2019s been involved in training for a few decades and says the biggest training challenge he\u2019s faced has been Delta\u2019s merger with Northwest Airlines Corp. in the last three-plus years. \u201cThe merger involved two very different corporate cultures,\u201d he explains, \u201cand more than 80,000 total employees.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThroughout history, airline mergers have been challenging, Nutter notes. \u201cMany people say, \u2018We\u2019ll take the best of what you do and the best of what we do and make a hybrid.\u2019 But this tends to add more complexity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tInstead, the newly merged airline took the opposite approach\u2014Adopt and Go. \u201cOn the compliance side, all airlines have an operating certificate issued by the FAA. We were trying to get to a single operating certificate. So we looked at every policy and procedure at the two carriers, picked the approach we liked best, and then trained everyone on it using a variety of delivery methods, including instructor-led classes, e-learning, and on-campus and distance learning,\u201d says Nutter, who oversees a staff of 20 in Flight Operations, managing pilot training and development. \u201cIf we chose the Delta way, but found some Northwest methods had merit, we\u2019d go back and look at them after we achieved our single operating certificate.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe strategy worked. The newly merged company achieved its single occupancy certificate in 14 months instead of the usual several years.<\/p>\n
\n\tPilot Plans<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tPart of the reason airline mergers are so complicated when it comes to training is that the industry provides a cross-section of training, including:<\/p>\n \n\tPilot training (which is included in the bullets above) is very technical, with the content driven by compliance, Nutter says. For technical training, pilots went to training centers for ground school and flight simulation. \u201cIn this industry, pilot training tends to chunk in three ways,\u201d Nutter explains.<\/p>\n \n\tIndoctrination:<\/strong> Onboarding and baseline technical training<\/p>\n \n\tQualification:<\/strong> Being initially trained as a pilot on a 737<\/p>\n \n\tRecurrent:<\/strong> Annual recurrent training<\/p>\n \n\tDelta pilots were used to doing some training via home study by CD, but pilots at Northwest didn\u2019t have that option. They always had to go to the training center. Also, pilots usually are broken up by fleet. \u201cAt Northwest, each fleet operated as a separate training department with autonomy. The Northwest decentralized approach was siloed and resulted in less standardization,\u201d Nutter says. \u201cBut at Delta, training development is centralized and standardized. So we decided to let them stick with what they knew until we harmonized the process.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tGreet, Assist, Thank<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tOne fallout from the merger was a drop in performance metrics, Nutter says. \u201cAirlines run on operational efficiency, and that was Northwest\u2019s forte. It ran a tight operation. As the two companies merged, performance metrics such as on-time arrivals and departures dropped, and baggage complaints increased.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAs a result, Delta conducted robust customer service training to ensure flawless execution. \u201cIt\u2019s all about doing what you should be doing when you should be doing it,\u201d Nutter emphasizes. \u201cCustomer service is the now.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tDelta uses the Greet, Assist, Thank model for customer service and scripts to the minute the logistics of getting baggage to the concourse and onto the right plane, getting people through security quickly, etc. Ticket agents receive instructor-led and role-play training. \u201cAnd when we started charging bag fees, people stuffed more bags into the overhead bin, so flight attendants needed to be trained on how to deal with that on the customer service side. We don\u2019t want delays,\u201d Nutter explains. \u201cPilots also have to be trained on customer service. For instance, they have to understand that timely communication about the status of their flight is what matters most to customers.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tOperationally, Delta is getting better, Nutter says. \u201cFor Flight Operations, we go through Level 3 evaluation for everything we do. And we do Level 4 evaluation by tying training data to operational performance and safety metrics. As a result, we\u2019ve received several awards, including Travel Weekly\u2019s Magellan Award and being named to Fortune\u2019s World\u2019s Most Admired Companies list in 2011.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tTechnology Takes Flight<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tAdding yet another layer of complexity to the merger, the two airlines used two different learning management systems (LMSs). Delta had a small department that managed its corporate LMS. It held more records and people, so it was easier to migrate most of the Northwest divisions over. Northwest had an LMS that was purchased later. The Northwest pilots were tested in the LMS, while the Delta pilots were tested in an internally developed system. There also was a sophisticated e-learning project at Northwest that only operated on the new LMS, Nutter notes. \u201cTo this day, we still have two LMSs more than three years after the merger.\u201d Ultimately, though, Nutter says the airline will go with a new, single LMS.<\/p>\n \n\tOn the technology front, the airline is moving toward mobile training as quickly as possible, Nutter says, \u201cbut I\u2019ve seen a big change in the last three or four years. A year-and-a-half ago, folks got the CEO to set up a Social Media Team to give airport customer stats\u2014the CEO buy-in came about after a customer with 150,000 Twitter followers complained on the platform. The group started Tweeting, and today it\u2019s actively monitored and responded to. Since 2010, we have become very tapped into Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tNutter believes Delta hasn\u2019t taken full advantage of social networking yet\u2014particularly setting up communities of practice. \u201cYou need someone to monitor and proctor them,\u201d he notes. \u201cI wish had more time to explore it.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe industry is going through big changes on the technology front. \u201cToday, our cabin crews are using iPads. They have an interface with the entertainment system and can do simulations,\u201d Nutter says. \u201cAnd pilots are moving to an electronic cockpit or flight kits instead of books and manuals.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThere are two models: a tablet device in the cockpit issued to the plane or a tablet issued to the pilot. \u201cOther airlines have purchased tablet devices for their flight crews without a well-thought-out strategy in place,\u201d Nutter says. \u201cWe are conducting tests of tablet devices in the cockpit to gather data in order to formulate a complete strategy. How such a device can be used to support training is a core design consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tNutter also says Delta sees the possibilities for serious gaming, as it has matured quite a bit. \u201cAt the Advanced Quality Program Conference (AQP), we worked with a group that works with the military. A group of soldiers in Afghanistan found an IED, took pictures, sent them to a remote location, and patched in an expert to examine them. In my mind, that scenario is similar to a plane over the Atlantic having a security risk and having an in-flight crew talking to a risk-control destination to find out other potential airports to land at,\u201d Nutter says. \u201cIt\u2019s difficult to present this scenario in a classroom. We\u2019ve seen this done as a scenario-based game and are going to explore this further this year.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIn the meantime, he says, \u201cwe also utilize small games, along the lines of Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? meets Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Using games with simples Q&As seems to be the most effective when it comes to testing pilots\u2019 knowledge retention. For example, we ask them 25 questions, and when they get one wrong, we send them to the right answer.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tDelta continues to look for ways to leverage technology and move appropriate training from the classroom to e-learning. \u201cWe\u2019ve invested millions of dollars over the last four years to create a desktop simulator pilots can use at home,\u201d Nutter says. \u201cThink Microsoft Flight Simulator but with an accurate, fully functional cockpit.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAll in all, \u201cwe all feel like we\u2019ve been wearing our asbestos suits fighting the fires from the merger,\u201d Nutter says. \u201cBut now we can go back to training and look at the new and different possibilities out there.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAirline Trainer Tips<\/strong><\/p>\n By Lorri Freifeld<\/p>\n \tOrchestrating a smooth training transition during a merger or acquisition is never easy. But when it involves the joining of two major airlines, well, fasten your seatbelts. There almost definitely will be turbulence ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[16],"class_list":{"0":"post-9522","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-magazine","7":"tag-feature","8":"magazine_issues-march-2012"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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