When we began 2020 we were full of energy and had a bright future in prospect. ServiceTec Netherlands was growing, we were adding additional members to the team in Q1 and the work kept coming. We were also in the middle of renewing the contractual agreement with our biggest customer SITA. But then all of a sudden the aviation sector was put to a halt by COVID-19. This meant there was no more work coming in, the air traffic movements at Schiphol were reduced to less than 2,5% compared to 2019 in the same period.
Obviously this meant that our core business services were almost unnecessary at the airport as well. A prospect of ‘growth’ changed into ‘shrink’ instantaneously. This required difficult decisions and difficult conversations with our colleagues but we were very lucky to be able to keep a team which kept providing the services our customers are used to receiving from us.
One of our team leaders, Aron, tells me how they’ve experienced the entire situation at the airport, whilst the site management was required to work from their homes. He says it is a difficult time for everybody but he’s very happy that everyone in the team is taking their responsibilities seriously and taking care of their own tasks with very little supervision needed. He believes this is why the AMS team is the strong team that it is.
We’re getting mixed signals in regards of the ongoing situation. The Netherlands and most of the countries around us are in semi-lockdown but luckily we’re seeing some project work coming in and the new contract should be a done deal now too. This gives us a positive feeling and makes us confident that we’ll be on our way back to recovery.
As I started this story with a quote about forgetting 2020, I’ll end looking forward to the next year. Let’s hope 2021 will be the year with new opportunities and that we’ll be coming back stronger than ever!
From everyone in the AMS team we’re wishing you all the best for 2021. Take care of yourselves.
Sander Opdam
Site Manager
ServiceTec Airport Operations Netherlands BV
