What makes airline work attractive?
Airline work can appear very attractive, particularly to a good quality, mediumsized business near to a small to mediumsized commercial airport. If the airport is the main base of one airline, then securing their business flying on several routes will give a steady daily volume to which you would need to add the work of the other airlines which use the airport regularly but less frequently. Airlines do not like flying with bags of dirty linen on board, so every commercial flight represents a potential regular customer.
This means that you can plan your weekly rotas with a fair idea of typical volumes and a fixed knowledge of maximum volumes (because the size of the planes dictates these). There will also be a small number of classifications, all used only once – table napkins, pillowcases, blankets, staff uniforms, and perhaps the occasional seat cover. Most staining and soiling will be slight and even very dirty items will be freshly soiled, making cleansing easier.
Pitfalls
So, what’s not to like? Firstly, your collection and delivery times are absolutely critical and subject to the weather and factors beyond your control, so flexibility is essential. The service is 365/24/7, which calls for good staff flexibility and cooperation.
Stain removal skills are important along with good odour control. Superb finishing skills are required, sufficient to meet the expectations of any critical first-class customer. Any complaint gets magnified and remembered at 15,000 feet!
Shrinkage can be more of an issue, especially if the airline does not have professional buying skills for its reusable textiles. It is not reasonable to expect zero relaxation shrinkage of seat covers, for example, but some airlines still persist in buying covers exactly the right size to fit the seat when new, without specifying either pre-shrunk fabric or allowing a tolerance for relaxation in the wash. Good customer liaison with the right department in the airline is necessary to counter this.
Items such as seat covers and staff uniforms could well need drycleaning and this in turn might require additional staff skills and the correct machinery, for both cleaning and finishing. This cannot be skimped. It is particularly important to be consulted on the purchase of tailored uniforms and delicate items such as shirts, blouses and scarves. A knowledge of the critical parameters associated with silks, for example, is needed because polyester, natural silk and viscose require very different skills in stain pre-treatment, drycleaning and finishing.
Staff selection and training
Securing flexible staff means recruiting those able to learn new skills and able to accommodate shift work, or planes which are late but still expect to leave on time and so on. In addition, your engineer must be able to keep on top of machine malfunctions and they will expect an adequate degree of redundancy in the equipment, so that in the event of a breakdown there is always an alternative to handle a process. A planned preventative maintenance programme is the minimum needed to an enable the manager to sleep at night!
Conclusion
Airline work is certainly worth it if you are prepared to obtain the skills and equipment and procedures to accommodate the customer, but it is not for the fainthearted! If you are proud of your quality and service levels but you are frustrated that you can never seem to get the volumes and prices which your quality merits, then perhaps airline work is the solution. Prices are still keen, but you are unlikely to face competition from the very large, highvolume, low-priced textile rental giants of the flatwork sector. They are unlikely to want to compete on quality terms with the successful medium-sized business, perhaps still family-run. Airline textiles could be your big chance if you are prepared to make the effort required to succeed in this.
