New recruit

SAS Scandinavian Airline's new UAE general manager, Anna Lyczak-Czepukojc, talks to ATN about the main challenges of her new position.

What experience do you have in the industry?

I have been with SAS for 14 years. I started at check in and customer services in Poland; it's the only company I've ever worked for. Gradually I became more involved and gained more responsibilities and recently I've been responsible for some of our international accounts.

What attracted you to your new position?

I participated for two years in an international development programme and this gave me lots of confidence to aim higher and try to use my experience in a bigger role.

This position sounded like a big challenge; the opportunity to use my experience at the same time as broadening my horizons is really an exciting move.

What are your responsibilities in this role?

The main focus will be on strengthening our sales in the region, but it's also important for us to have a local presence, to be able to establish our brand, to raise public awareness and to talk to people - our corporate clients, our general customers and the media - to really get some brand recognition established and boost our profile.

What do you hope to achieve in this new role?

Obviously I will be happy if we strengthen our position and increase local sales, but I want us to become known as a leading carrier in northern Europe. If I can get that message across then that will be very positive.

What challenges do you expect to face?

To be able to penetrate the local market and to be able to synchronise all of the things that I am responsible for against a different cultural background to what I am used to; that will be very challenging. The thing is, for maybe the last five years I have been looking for this sort of challenge and it has really energised me.

The faith that my superiors have put in me gives me a real sense of confidence and empowerment in my ability, so I look forward to those challenges very much.

How do you unwind after a hard day in the office?

The most important thing is my family back home. I call them every day to keep in touch, but I also like to read and listen to music to relax. My husband is very sporty and I am too so we go to the gym and I try to swim and do power yoga every day to keep in shape.

When we are more settled I will look into more out door activities. I love horse riding and rock climbing.

What is your dream travel experience?

I have wanted to explore Australia and New Zealand for ages. Hopefully next year it will become a reality for myself and my husband.

We really want to go out and experience the place, not on a package tour, but to really get to know the people and the wildlife. It's all about exploring and I'm sure there will be some rock climbing in there as well!

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