The three heads of scale
Corinne Martínez is the manager of the San Sebastián, Vitoria and Pamplona airports, María Susana Espinosa Guardiola of the Ibiza airport and Teresa Gutiérrez Rodríguez is the manager of the La Palma airport.
None of them had thought when they were little that they would end up working in an airport. “When I was little, for me aviation was always related to vacations. And yes, the truth is that I have always liked the hustle and bustle of airports,” says Martínez.
For his part, Espinosa confessed to magasIN that he entered Iberia at the age of 18 and had never been on a plane, “but I have to admit that the world of aviation captivated me from the first moment.” Along the same lines, Gutiérrez points out that “as soon as you meet him, he hooks you up.”
They explain to us that in their work they carry out various functions that include planning and organizing human and material resources, carrying out handling (operations related to passenger transport) to the assisted companies, maintaining relations with and representing the assisted companies and ensuring compliance with safety and quality requirements by staff and subcontractors.
In addition, they emphasize that it is common in Iberia to see women in their positions. In fact, Martínez says that the last two heads of scale with whom he has worked were women. Espinosa points out that she has been on scales in which all managers were.
“When I took over as service manager in 2001, I joined a three-man team with a generation gap of approximately 20 years, but I must say that it was a great experience and I remember it very fondly,” says Gutiérrez.
Both for the manager of the San Sebastián, Vitoria and Pamplona airports, and for the manager of the Ibiza airport, the biggest challenge they face is that every day is a challenge. “A multitude of factors affect us, from the weather to a breakdown. Everything can have an impact,” says Martínez.
Gutiérrez tells us that the biggest challenge for her is “getting the motivation of each team member, so that they feel they are a fundamental part of being able to meet the expectations of our client companies.”
For them, one of the biggest challenges they have faced in their career is the change of scale. “When you already control the peculiarities of your airport, you have created links with your team, starting in a new city with new colleagues and a different operation enriches you a lot, but it is still a challenge,” says Corinne Martínez.
To this, Susana Espinosa adds that in Ibiza it is a great challenge to have enough staff. “The high rental prices make it very difficult for workers to come from the peninsula and on the island there is a large supply of work and little demand.” Although, for Teresa Gutiérrez, the biggest challenge has been dealing with the management of the pandemic and the volcanic eruption.
On the other hand, one of the best aspects of his job is the team. “The human quality of the teams at Iberia continues to surprise me on a daily basis,” says Martínez. Espinosa points out that two days are never the same. “You can go from spending a day without leaving the office planning to go to an audit of an assisted company. Sometimes it’s a bit stressful, but I love it.”
We continue talking with the three heads of scale, one by one, to find out about their trajectory, the particularities of their work and we ask them for advice on traveling.