This is incredibly adorable – During the school holidays, 10-year old airline fanatic Alex Jacquot decided to start his own airline that he called Oceania Express. Alex appointed himself the Chief Executive Officer of the upstart airline and he even found school friends to be his CFO, Head of IT, Head of Maintenance and Head of Onboard Services.
Alex chose his best friend, Wolf to be vice chief executive as they are co-founders of Oceania Express and rather bizarrely, there was even a friend appointed as Head of Lego. But there was just one problem – Alex and his friends didn’t have much experience (okay, zero experience) in the aviation industry.
Not to be put off, Alex decided to write to Alan Joyce, the chief executive of Australian carrier Qantas to pick his brain and see if he would share some top tips when it comes to launching a brand new airline. “I wanted to write to you because I wanted to ask three things,” Alex wrote to the Qantas head honcho.
“Number one: I like working on my airline, seeing as it is the school holidays, I have more time to work. But I don’t have anything to do (that I can think of). Do you have any ideas what I can do?”
Clearly, while most children would be concentrating on playing computer games during the school holiday’s, Alex had other ideas. “Do you have any tips on starting an airline?” he asks Joyce before showing a decent amount of knowledge about Qantas’ current plans to start direct flights between Sydney and London.
You’d think it would be all too easy for Alex’s letter to get lost in the post but not only did Alan Joyce read the 10-year old’s questions, he even took the time to write back, offering Alex some sage advice in starting an airline.
“First, I should say that I’m not typically in the business of giving advice to my competitors. Your newly-appointed Head of Legal might have something to say about that, too,” Joyce writes.
“But I’m going to make an exception on this occasion, because I too was once a young boy who was so curioys about flight and all its possibilities.”
So what is Joyce’s top tip? He suggests Alex should focus on making air travel as comfortable and as affordable as possible. He even offers to meet with Alex “as the CEO of Australia’s oldest airline, and you, as the CEO of Australia’s newest airline.”
Alex’s mum says he is obsessed with aviation and spends much of his spare time developing plans for his new airline. Getting a one on one with a real airline CEO just be a dream come true!
