Meet the Planners – Anders Hellsten

The latest in our series of “๐˜”๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜—๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ด”, here is Anders Hellsten …

๐—›๐—ฒ๐˜† ๐—”๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€, ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฐ๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ. ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ฏ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—ด๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฉ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ข๐—ป๐—ฒ?
I spent 24 years at SAS working in many roles, from Crew planner to Optimisation specialist, to Head of IT and finally Director Operations Control. Outside of aviation, I worked for 7 years at SJ – a Swedish Railroad company – as Business developer in Network & Production planning.

๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ ๐—ฏ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ด๐—ต๐˜ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฉ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ข๐—ป๐—ฒ?
Back in the 90s when I was training my colleagues in working with the Jeppesen system, I realised that crew planning had always been an โ€œartisan craftโ€, with experts delicately perfecting their output by hand. Suddenly this changed overnight into a different game. Instead of โ€œVisual Flyingโ€ (i.e., manually creating and checking the planning solution) we were โ€œflying by instrumentsโ€ โ€“ using data, graphs, and code to create and finalise our plans. This required a totally new skill set, one that knows Crew Planning but is also able to analyse problems and adjust rules and processes, to achieve the outcome. Now the opportunity has come to offer this to a much wider audience.

๐—ฌ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ด๐—ต๐˜๐˜€ ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—ฉ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ข๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ?
VeeOne is entering a marketplace that didnโ€™t really exist pre-pandemic. This has shown us all that a lot of services can be handled remotely and at the same time it has given VeeOne the opportunity to attract some of the best crew planners around the globe, offering a product to small and mid-sized airlines, that was not previously accessible to them. Itโ€™s a game-changer.

๐—›๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—น ๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฉ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ข๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜„?
Having been a globetrotter all my life I have always enjoyed working in international environments where everybody brings their unique experiences to the table. Because we are so geographically diverse, from this approach, the best new ideas are born. Being a part of VeeOneโ€™s global team makes me feel right at home.

๐—ฌ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ?
After a lifetime in the transportation industry, moving between IT and the business, I have learned to analyse planning problems and design processes and IT solutions that work and properly support the organisation. Taking the time to ๐™ง๐™š๐™–๐™ก๐™ก๐™ฎ define the right solution is tough but essential in order to succeed when implementing change.

๐—ฌ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ด๐—ต๐˜๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐˜‚๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ?
All sectors within transport are under increased pressure to be efficient and make the most of their investments, like advanced optimisation systems. That creates a new challenge: to be both lean and at the same time have the correct skills to support your business needs. Therefore I believe there is a growing need for companies to bridge resource or skill gaps quickly and sustainably. VeeOne is perfectly placed to fill this niche.