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Key player in logistics

He graduated in Logistics Engineering and once dreamed of a job as an air traffic controller. Jorg van Berkel now works as a flight planner at Transavia.

He thinks aircraft are super interesting and once he dreamed of a job as an air traffic controller. In 2018 Jorg van Berkel graduated with a degree in Logistics Engineering. He researched the Transavia luggage process and now works there as a flight planner.

'As a Schedule Optimiser in the Network & Scheduling department I am in the centre between the commercial and operational side,' Jorg explains. 'When a certain route is selling well, we check to see if there is the aircraft capacity to add an extra flight. Among other things we look at crew availability, handling at airports and licences. It also works the other way around. When there are operational disruptions, we try to solve them within the fleet's capacity, so that the impact for the passengers is reduced as much as possible. Changes in schedules are prevented as much as possible. When this happens in the peak season it can become quite a complex puzzle.'

In the final year I chose the Aviation Management minor. It is nice that you can hop over to a different programme

Jorg van Berkel, flight planner at Transavia, graduated in Logistics Engineering

At work at Efteling

'During my education I opted for the physical distribution specialisation. This was not a very difficult choice. In this specialisation you could work at Efteling which appealed to me. Eventually I did not see much of the park. My project was to redesign the warehouse with all the rides' spare parts and I soon found out that the Jumbo warehouse, where I had been working for years, was much more interesting.'

A different logistical concept

'In the third year I, together with a fellow student, did a research project for Binnenstadservice Nijmegen named Cargo Hitching. In the Nijmegen area all the courier services were driving single file to Millingen aan de Rijn and back, because you cannot go any further than that. On one side there is the Rhine and on the other side you have Germany. We looked into the viability of gathering the packages and then have a passenger bus take them. This was an interesting innovative concept of which we researched its feasibility.'

Hopping over to a different programme

'In the final year I chose the Aviation Management minor. It is nice that you can do that; hopping over to a different programme. Because of that minor I eventually ended up at Transavia. I remember someone from Transavia coming in for a guest lecture and me thinking: "Now see if you can arrange a placement position for yourself Jorg!"; because I really wanted to do something in aviation. I did once start the Aviation Logistics programme in Amsterdam but that was not a success for several reasons. I never felt at home there, I did at BUas. Here the doors are always open and lecturers really take the time for you.'

Lean

'Eventually I succeeded in getting that work placement at Transavia. I researched the entire scope of the luggage process. There is a lot to it and using the Lean method I managed to research the problem areas and formulate advice for improvement. After my graduation I worked as a production planner at the Jumbo distribution centre for a few months and then I received an offer from Transavia. In my position I deal with many departments, this makes it super interesting. With a bit of luck I will soon be able to talk about that in a guest lecture.'

Scenarios for after Corona

'Due to the Corona virus we have a very strange time behind us, just like everybody else. We had our last flight on 22 March. After that the aircraft were grounded for two months. Especially the maintenance service had a busy time. When an aircraft does not fly, you still have to maintain it. Our department was mostly busy with coming up with various scenarios on the process side. How will act when we can start flying again? The extra time required to thoroughly clean the aircraft between flights, what does that mean? How can we make sure that we meet the RIVM's guidelines? We spent a lot of time thinking and planning. Fortunately from 4 June we have slowly been building our network, so we can again move passengers in an as safe as possible way to the most beautiful destinations!'