Dealing with cultural change is nothing new to Tilmann Gabriel, the new Aberdeen-based president of helicopter firm CHC’s European operations.
He was after all part of one of the biggest transformations in modern history.
A former pilot with Lufthansa, the large German airline, the 55-year-old was still living in his home town of West Berlin, where he was born and raised, when the wall that divided Germany was torn down.
The removal of the landmark barrier was the start of unification for the country, but it also marked the start of a major learning curve for Mr Gabriel.
“Before the wall came down there was no aviation or private flying allowed in West Berlin,” he said.
“When it did finally come down in 1989 I was a seasoned aviation executive but what made it so memorable was that I was given the honour of landing the first Lufthansa aircraft in West Berlin since World War II.
“Off the back of that I was sent to East Berlin to see what the group could do there along with Interflug airline, the state airline of East Germany.
“That was my first major inter-cultural challenge because, despite speaking the same language and being in the same business, we weren’t well received. It was as if the country was still divided; it was a very emotional experience as the Interflug colleagues were strong eastern communist supporters.”
Mr Gabriel helped build several training centres in East Berlin for Lufthansa after the Interflug operation went into bankruptcy in 1990, hiring mostly East Germans who quickly helped him understand the cultural differences between the two regions.
He said: “This five-year experience taught me to appreciate how important it is when you head into any new venture that you must understand the culture.
“I’m mindful of that in terms of how I manage international companies and it’s been the key lesson I’ve learnt in my career. I was able to learn a lot through the Berlin Wall coming down in a professional, personal and emotional way.”
Fast forward 21 years through successful spells in the US and the Middle East in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and Mr Gabriel has taken on the role of managing CHC’s European operations as the company moves into one of the most challenging periods of its history.
He succeeded interim managing director Scott Pinfield, who followed managing director Keith Mullett, now leading the Soteria consortium which is the preferred bidder for a 25-year search-and-rescue contract to be awarded by the UK Government and in which CHC is partnered by Sikorsky, Royal Bank of Scotland and Thales.
With its European business having its headquarters in Aberdeen, CHC services 55% of the North Sea market from bases in Scotland, England, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway.
The leading helicopter provider in the North Sea, it transported 117,661 passengers on 8,680 flights offshore from the Granite City last year alone, clocking up a total of 25,537 flight hours.
Employing a workforce of around 460 people in Aberdeen in support of oil and gas operations in the UK and more than 1,400 around the North Sea, CHC’s European operations last year posted a turnover of £375million. Canadian-based CHC Group has a worldwide payroll of 4,800.
Mr Gabriel, a married father-of-two, embarked on a 3,000-mile move from the Middle East into a new industry and the unpredictable weather of the north-east. He said: “I faced a tough decision as I thoroughly enjoyed my last role of leading Safi Airways in the Middle East, but it was an opportunity I couldn’t resist.
“I’m pleased I’ve made the move and can now concentrate on building the business in Europe. Running an airline, especially one flying into a hotspot like Afghanistan, had extreme challenges.
“Although most of my experience is mainly in the airline fixed-wing industry I have been active in the helicopter sector as well and as a pilot for more than 20 years I’ve had some great exposure to developments in new ways of bringing aviation forward which I will be able to apply to CHC.
“The oil and gas business is new to me but I’m learning about the demands and the challenges our customers in that sector face.
“My mantra throughout is to be perfectly safe at all times and that’ll never change. There’s no differentiation between safety in the airline world and helicopter world.”
Mr Gabriel, who was torn between a career in medicine or music as a youngster, might be new to the job but is already keen to break into new frontiers.
“CHC is one of the largest oil and gas helicopter operators worldwide and has recently been involved in two significant search-and-rescue contract bids in the UK and Ireland,” he said.
“We have added another level of expertise to our business and we want to grow further in that area.
“We believe turning search and rescue from military responsibility into private organisations brings more reliability into the sector and I was involved in a similar process in the United Arab Emirates.
“However, oil and gas in the North Sea is our core business and with developments off Shetland we have to adapt our programmes and that’s where I see several opportunities.
“Our customers also want the latest technology to improve performance and we have in the last year introduced 40 new technology helicopters into Europe at a cost of almost £20million per aircraft.
“We have to balance financing new technology within the price expectations of our customers, while staying continually alert to new safety developments. For us, our customers are the centre of our daily focus, flying them safely and exceeding their expectations.”