Man of the Month – Poramin Chareonpanich – Austrian Airlines (Lufthansa Group)

It is my pleasure to be interviewed by DBWT. My name is Poramin Chareonpanich and I am currently working for Austrian Airlines as the Country Representative in Thailand and at the same time I am also an Account Manager Lufthansa Group Thailand, Philippines and the Mekong Region.

I am an aviation enthusiast, offering the best travel experience with Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa and SWISS to travelers for more than 8 years. In my spare time, I am passionate about motorsport, car engine modifications and golf.

When I was young, I travelled around the world with my family, especially with my mother, who spent 40 years in the aviation industry and those travel moments gave me a love of flying and aircraft subconsciously. Every time my two feet touched airport grounds, the heart always flickers with joy, knowing that I am going to explore new ventures, new cultures, and an unseen world which words could not describe how thrilled I was. Thereby, all these have made me truly an aviation enthusiastic person.

After I graduated with an MBA from England in 2014, I came back to my home country and pursued my first career in the aviation industry, my childhood dream. I learned that there were vacancies in Lufthansa Group Thailand at the time. Without hesitation, I immediately applied for a position in the servicing and operational field as I really wanted to learn and be part of the Lufthansa Group, the largest airlines group in Europe. In 2015, my dream came true, I joined Lufthansa Group Sales Team in Thailand. In 2017, a big opportunity came as I was approached and invited to apply for the role of Country Representative Thailand at Austrian Airlines, Austria’s national airline, part of Lufthansa Group and known for its exceptional service and Austrian’s charm.

My suggestion is simple –you have to keenly develop your skills and gain transferable knowledge at all time because the world is moving very fast. Moreover, you need to pursue and achieve your professional goals no matter how hard or difficult they may be. Only perseverance conquers all.

Working for a big global company is challenging because, there are always new opportunities to come and they often pass by very fast. So, you need to be ready to meet those challenges without fail. Even if you have failed, it was a lesson, never to be repeated!

Lufthansa Group is currently pursuing a more comprehensive approach to diversity, whereby diversity in terms of gender, demographic and ethnic background is seen as the bringing together of a range of different perspectives and a way of strengthening the competitive of the company’s position. We want to see that every employee has a fair chance to fully develop his/her talents and skills, thus having the chance to make his/her own personal contribution to the success of the company. Moreover, Lufthansa Group is actively encouraging women in senior roles in the aviation industry.  Ms. Annette Mann is a female CEO of Austrian Airlines, and we currently have 55 females pilots flying Austrian Airlines planes, domestically and internationally around the world.

Therefore, I can say without hesitation, that “we never ever have had any issue with inequality in our office in Thailand”. Neither gender nor age is taken into the account in our office whereby more than 70% of my colleagues are female, the rest, which is are male. No inequity atmosphere is felt here.

I strongly believe that each gender must not be treated differently when it comes to accessing opportunities, resources and socially-valued goods and rewards. This is what constitutes gender equality. However each gender has its different strengths and weaknesses. So, how to give fairness to each gender, is a question about equity. When it comes to the topic of physical strength, the average man tends to be considerably stronger than the average woman that is why we need to differentiate between justice and equality from each other. Take sports, for example, men and women are not physically equal, meaning all genders can play the same sports such as football but they should not be mixed in the same competition due to physiological reasons. Even labour laws in Thailand involved in heavy duty lifting stipulate that male employees can lift up to 55 kilograms, while for female employees, up to 25 kilograms.

Moreover, giving help to women by men or to men by women should not be a problematic discussion. No one should not be treated differently because of their gender but help can be given to any gender, and from any gender as long as help is appreciated. In my opinion, offering physical support to everyone when they are in need of help is a good manner that everyone should do regardless of gender.

I believe everybody in industries related to tourism would have the same answer. Since The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared COVID-19 outbreak as a global pandemic in March 2020, airlines terminated regular flight operations for a few months to support the efforts of the governments worldwide to stop the spread of coronavirus. There was little businesses for airlines in Thailand during the pandemic, but we tried extremely hard to bring in the business no matter how big or small. We operated repatriation flights for stranded passengers and we locally maintained business relationship with our trade partners and customers during the period of hardship. We kept ourselves active, no matter how difficult it was, and looking for new business segments. Now that we have overcome the obstacles, the number of passengers has improved and is higher than what we had experienced the pre-covid period.

It is very important! We are driving digitization forward by developing digital solutions that make mobility and travel more sustainable. We have Lufthansa Innovation Hubs where the future of Lufthansa Group with new digital business models is shaped. We have created practical apps to make travel easier during travel preparation, at the airport and onboard our flight for example, with mobile check-in and the mobile boarding pass. Austrian Airlines and Vienna International Airport are embarking on a partnership with Plug and Play, the world’s largest corporate innovation platform with its headquarters in Silicon Valley to enhance the customer experience and operational efficiency, as well as develop new products, digital solutions and additional services for our guests.

Everyone in Lufthansa Group worldwide including in Thailand has the digital initiatives to improve the customer experience and our performance. We are digital by working fully online with big data to learn and analyse what is happening such as market growth in order to stay competitive.

Seniority is never a problem because we never see it as a measure of job performance. Everybody can become a senior staff regardless of age as long as he/she can prove his/her outstanding professionalism. Furthermore, everyone is invited and welcomed to share their opinions to help improve the company’s competitiveness.

Nevertheless, I personally believe that age is no guarantee of efficiency. If you could show that you are ready to accept more responsibilities, you will, for sure, not be left at a sidelines. Keep learning and respect your colleagues even though they are more senior or junior than you are.

Actually, I have many role models such as my parents, my wife, my superiors and my colleagues but if I have to choose one of them, I would rather choose my mother. She is a good example of strong a woman, who has dedicated her life to help others. She always told me to do my best, and do not be afraid of failure because, failure is part of success.

Success means doing the best you can with what you have, never give up, if you fail, perseverance conquers all.