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Tyne Archer - Manager, Shell Airport Operations
Any thoughts of easing into a new job were quickly set aside when Tyne Archer took over as manager of the Shell Airport Operations at Sydney and Canberra Airports.
Within weeks he and his team were preparing to refuel Air Force One and Two after the eagle-emblazoned jets touched down on Australian soil. The customer, of course, was President George W. Bush on an official visit to Australia in October 2003.
Preparation for the US President’s arrival was intense remembers Tyne, who joined Shell’s Graduate Recruitment Program in 1994 after completing a Bachelor of Environmental Engineering. “Just imagine an advance planning team of generals and secret service agents. Refuellers from the US military were even flown to Australia from California.”
While tight security surrounding the Bush visit prevented any chance of getting close to the ‘customer’, direct communication with customers and stakeholders was essential when jet fuel shortages in September 2003 led to strict rationing of fuel at Sydney Airport.
Upwards of six million litres of jet fuel is delivered to the Sydney jet fuel storage facility daily, approximately 2.5 million of which comes from Shell’s Clyde refinery. The fuel is then subject to stringent quality checks and distributed to different oil companies for refuelling their customers’ aircrafts.
If times of difficulty bring you closer to your customers, then the Sydney fuel shortage was a case in point. “Keeping communication lines open and ensuring timely provision of information helped smooth the way through a difficult period,” explains Tyne. “Our aim was to ensure that people had the information they needed and that disruption to airline services was minimised.”
He believes the entire industry learnt a valuable lesson. “Managing relations with stakeholders is
critical. Regular sharing of information between all parties means we can better forecast fuel supplies and identify problems much earlier.”