Vizion Air

Placement organization

Name of organization: Vizion Air
Town/city: Deurne – Antwerp
Country: België
Website: https://www.vizionair.aero

Student

Name of student: Bianca Balan

Specialist area: ITTI
Placement period: 2017-2018

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Virtual airline
Organization’s activities: Selling, organising and following charter flights for brokers.
Target group of the organization: Air charter brokers (exclusively)
Company culture: Flat hierarchy, quite informal. You are expected to be polite (as in any company), but you can speak with the singulars (“je/jij” in Dutch) with absolutely everyone.
Number of employees: 4
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Yes, definitely

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working?

Flight design

Brief description of your daily activities: Never a dull day in aviation!
As a trainee in the Flight Design department, I am assisting in charter flight preparation (contacting our clients, customizing their flight, contacting the operators) and supervision. Some of the tasks I am concerned with are:
• Contacting the operators for more information about the new chartered flight.
• Contacting our clients to give them all operational information and to ask for special requests during the flight.
• Checking for possibilities for the special request and booking them.
• Making schedules and time changes.
• Contacting our clients the day of our flight and makes sure everything goes well, at the airports etc.
• Contributing to the social media channels (Instagram, Facebook) by posting updates concerning our activity.
• Flight supervision: going to the airports and making sure the flight goes well and the clients are happy.
• Contributing with content to the in-flight magazine, newsletters etc.
• Send out to the market our fleet availability.
• Research different subjects.
• Assist departments with various small tasks.
• Work in Salesforce.
• Managing my own mailbox, and taking care of my supervisor’s mailbox when she is away.
• Streamlining the communication among all the parties involved (operators, handling agents, catering companies, brokers, crew, end customer…) and finding solutions when unexpected problems arise.
Brief description of your company assignment: Customer Satisfaction Study: Gather information about the level of satisfaction of clients by means of surveys. I have extended my target from clients (brokers) to operators (the actual airlines we work with) and end customers (passengers).
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: My supervisor is really nice and helpful, and always reachable. She sees where I am making the mistakes, and helps me fix them. I received tasks that required a great amount of independence, but I knew I can always go to her or to our other colleagues when I need help.
They are also understanding and flexible, for example if I need to leave earlier or to get some time off. I am also given time off to compensate for when I have to work weekends/late nights/early mornings.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Flexible, resistant to stress, service-minded, problem-solving, good communication
Additional company requirements for this placement? Aviation knowledge. MS Office and general computer skills (Internet, e-mail, etc.)
English: Advanced
Spanish:
French: Intermediate
German:
Italian:
Other languages: Optional: Dutch (intermediate) and/or French (intermediate)

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Bus/train

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Internet
How did you go to work every day? Bike

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? As an EU citizen there’s no need for visa
Do you need a work permit? Also not
How did you arrange the necessary documents:
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents?
Did you need certain vaccinations? No
How long in advance?

Language course

Did you take a language course before you started your placement? No
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? Not necessarily

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 30
Accommodation (monthly): € 335
Local transport (monthly): € I don’t use it
General costs of living (monthly): € 250
Costs of visa: €
Costs of work permit: €
What did the company pay for/to you? Lunch at the office.
If I’m making extra costs for work (e.g. phone, transportation, meals when away for a flight), then I get full reimbursement.

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
I read online about Belgium and its culture. And I talked to a few Belgians I knew.
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? No, I knew what to expect

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: 150598@edu.nhtv.nl

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: – If you live in Antwerp, get a bike! Fast & easy. And beware of the cycling infrastructure (not always as friendly and glass-free as in the Netherlands 😉 ). However, I feel that your bike is safer in Antwerp than in many places in the Netherlands…
– If you aren’t the big-city type, you may find Antwerp quite busy/crowded. It’s manageable, but may not be your favourite.
– Explore as much as you can.
– If you want to meet other students, you can look up on Facebook the page of ESN Antwerp, they organise quite a few events.
– If you travel often to the Netherlands on the IC Direct (the new international train), get Campus-Kaart for the Belgian part, and Grensabonnement (unless you have other discounts) for the Dutch part – saves very much!
– Be prepared for living in the same city with 100+ other cultures.
– Also, be prepared for shorter opening times of the shops (especially at weekends).
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: The airport (where Vizion Air has its office) is almost in the city, and less than 30 minutes by bike away from the center.

Go and visit as much as you can: Antwerp has so much to do and to see! Belgium as well! Shopping, eating out, partying, visiting cultural sites, open air markets, cozy cafés… you name it, Antwerp has everything! And if it doesn’t, Brussels and other cities are less than one hour away ;).

You get very good transport connections from Antwerp: from the airport to 20+ international destinations, and from the train/international bus stations directly to 4 other countries.

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link