Role Introduction
Reports to: Regional General Manager, Northeast Asia/ Head of Global Airports
Location/ Country: Tokyo / Japan
Employment Condition: Fixed term – 5 years (with possibility to be extended)
We are seeking an inspiring
Regional Head of Airports, Northeast Asia to lead our airport service delivery operations across
Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. This senior leadership role has responsibility for more than
300 colleagues across nine airports, all representing the
Cathay Pacific brand and delivering a consistently exceptional customer experience and strong on-time performance, sometimes in partnership with third party service providers.
Reporting to the
Regional General Manager in Tokyo, with a functional reporting line to the
Head of Global Airports in Hong Kong, you will provide strategic leadership and operational oversight for the region. You will set direction, drive performance, and ensure our airport operations consistently meet the highest standards of safety, service, and reliability.
The successful candidate will bring strong strategic and people leadership capabilities, balanced with a highly collaborative approach. You will empower and actively support a talented team of
Airport Managers, enabling them to focus, lead, and succeed in day to day operations while continuously elevating the customer experience. Through coaching, alignment, and clear accountability, you will foster a high performing, engaged workforce that delivers for our customers and our brand.
Key Responsibilities
Airport Performance Management
- Support the region to be compliant with all regulatory requirements, safety and quality standards in the execution of corporate safety, security and quality policies
- Assist the airport teams to have remedial actions and robust action plans in place to deal with substandard performance and improvement plans (including but not limited to ground operations and lounges)
- Be the point of support for Airport Managers to seek support in managing suppliers’ performance for improvement
- Maintain active oversight of the full spectrum of airport operational issues within the region partnering with the Airport Managers as required to resolve them in a pragmatic, commercial, timely and legally compliant manner
Project and Planning
- Maintain strategic oversight and act as the primary point of contact, taking overall responsibility for the delivery of major projects for multi-locations, e.g. new airport launch, change of General Handling Agent, Requests for Pricing across locations, terminal/airport move, and projects involving ports within the region
Communications alignment
- Be the primary point of contact in the region for Head Office for long term airport strategic planning
- Translate corporate strategies and directives into clear operational plans of work to a regional level and assist in execution
- Be the point of support to ensure effective partnerships with various authorities and take an active involvement in Board of Airline Representatives and Airport Operators Committees as required
Crisis Management capability and preparedness
- Ensure highly developed and practiced organisational, supplier and individual capabilities in the region for effectively handling Emergency and Accident (E&A), Irregular Operations (IROPS), and other foreseeable airport contingencies
People Development and Performance Management
- Lead, support and encourage the Airport teams to achieve success
- Build a strong and motivated team, ensuring the right organisational structure and the right people are in place to foster positive team spirit and facilitate teamwork
- Supervise and mentor direct reports, encouraging effective collaboration
- Develop employees with high potential and identify learning opportunities to ensure appropriate training and development programmes are in place to suit both self-handled and 3rd party ports as appropriate
Budget and Cost Management
- Manage costs and budgets effectively without compromising legislation, levels of service or operational performance
E&A
- Emergency and Accident and Crisis Response responsibilities as required
Requirements
- Excellent command of written and spoken English is mandatory with the local language being an advantage
- At least 7 years’ solid Customer Service experience in a leadership position with a travel related background (strongly preferably in airlines or airport services)
- Up to date knowledge of all regulatory and local legal requirements relating to airport operations and passenger processing
- Command of different management processes and their importance as they vary from normal operations to disruption or emergency situations
- Superior independent working capabilities with strong decision-making skills
- Excellent analytical/numerical skills and experience of planning, reviewing and managing budgets and costs
- Ability to interpret and implement global policy to ensure local compliance
- Ability to think logically and commercially to present and justify ideas/findings to a wide variety of audiences that are often culturally diverse
- Proven track record of supplier management in-line with Company policy involving contract renewal, negotiation, agreeing terms of business, and senior management endorsement
- Leads, adapts to and embraces constant change
- Must have the legal right to live and work in Japan
Benefits
- Base salary: JPY718,620/month～ (determined based on experience and skills)
- Title allowance: JPY150,000/month
- Defined Contribution Pension Plan: JPY 55,000/month
- Social insurance: Unemployment insurance, Worker's compensation insurance, Health insurance, Welfare pension insurance
- Other allowances: the company regulations apply including significant airline travel discounts
- Commuting expense allowance: Up to JPY50,000/month
- Working hours per day: 7.5 hours
- Break time: one hour
- Off day: Two days off every week
- Probation period: 3 months
- Annual leave: 16 days in the first year after completing probationary period (prorated based on the month of joining)
- Potential for additional discretional bonus (depending on the Company's performance and financial status)
Personal & Application Information
Application
- Cover letter in English detailing your motivation for applying
- CV
Assessment Centre and Interview date: Late-March / Early-April
Venue: Cathay Japan Office (Tokyo)
Cathay Pacific is an Equal Opportunities Employer. Personal data provided by job applicants will be used strictly in accordance with our Applicant Personal Information Collection Statement and for recruitment purposes only. Candidates not notified within eight weeks may consider their application unsuccessful. We keep records of your data for no longer than is necessary for the purpose for which we obtained them and any other permitted linked purposes. If your application is unsuccessful, we will keep your details on file for as long as is necessary to process your application or for the purposes of further job opportunities if you agree to such longer periods.
