Aviation Civile

© DR
18 INTERNATIoNAL CooPERATIoN
19
First-hand accounts Ensuring an active presence of French players
in countries where there are major opportunities in the field of aeronautics;
that’s the mission of the aeronautic attachés present in Brazil, India,
Russia and China.
The “aeronautics”
ambassadors
Although they are part of the
embassies’ economics service,
the four aeronautics attachés
appointed today are unique
in that they concentrate their
action on that single sector, working
for three entities: they come under the
DGAC, but also the Ministry of Economy
and Industry, because they report to the
head of the embassy’s economics service,
as well as the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, because they work within the
embassies.
HeRVÉ COULOMB,
brazil
“Generally speaking, these attachés
are the DGAC’s eyes and ears and play the
part of its contact with the local authority
in civil aviation matters, explained Élisabeth
Dallo, director of the international
cooperation mission at the DGAC. They
also support the sector’s businesses by both
providing them with accurate information
about future opportunities and helping
them to make their local contacts.”
These aeronautics attachés, paid
by the DGAC, have very varied profiles.
They are appointed for three years, with
“Dealing mainly with
institutional tasks”
One of the main missions of Hervé
Coulomb, an engineer by training,
is to establish the best possible
contacts between French civil
aviation and the Brazilian
aeronautics authorities. Appointed
since February 2007, he has seen
his function evolve towards
mainly institutional tasks:
relations with the institutions
and monitoring large contracts
in particular, because the
commercial side is now
the responsibility of UBIFRANCE.
“Brazil has experienced
unprecedented growth in both
aircraft building and air transport,
a possible one year extension. What
skills are required? Five or six years
experience at the DGAC and knowledge
of the country’s language, except
in India where English is widely spoken.
A quick trip to the four corners of the
world in the company of these civil aviation
“ambassadors”…
sylvie mignard
he pointed out. So I have had to
establish close relations with
the institutions and the main
placers of orders so that
Franco-Brazilian relations are
as rewarding as possible.”
Other priorities: setting up
cooperation agreements between
the two nations’ competitiveness
clusters as well as preparing for
and accompanying official visits,
such as those that occurred
following the accident on flight
AF447, or the DGAC one,
in April 2011, about the
privatisation of airports.
Aviation Civile magazine No.358_ June 2011 Aviation Civile magazine No.358_ June 2011
© DR
“In China,
decisions are
often taken
at the last minute”
Based in Beijing since September 2010,
Raphaël Guillet concentrates his work
on cooperation between the DGAC
and the Civil Aviation Administration
of China (CAAC) and on information
retrieval.
“I study the press everyday and pick out
everything about aeronautics. Then,
I try to get more information from my
Chinese contacts and French companies
present in China. If we take the example
of the new Beijing airport, my aim is
to find out about the planned schedule
and see how we can help French
companies to take part in this project.”
Like his counterparts, this aeronautics
engineer is also responsible
for preparing for official visits
and in particular “aeronautics”
meetings with the Chinese authorities.
A sometimes difficult task because
decisions are often taken at the last
minute in China… “Often, the Chinese
are late in replying to our requests.
But, once the decision is taken, they work
much faster than us! he laughed.
So you have to be ready all the time
RAPHAëL gUILLeT,
China
THIBAUT LALLeMAND,
Russia
“Personal
exchanges
matter”
Bringing the A380 into service
on routes to Asian destinations
at the end of 2010 required long
discussions between the French
and Russian civil aviation authorities
(read Aviation Civile No.357). Flights
from Western Europe to China, Korea
and Japan cross the Russian airspace,
which is under high surveillance.
“My role in the negotiations held
between the Russian and French
authorities was to make it easier
to organise meetings. I also supplied
the French party with the information
necessary for good communications,
especially about the strategies of the
local airlines and those of the competent
authorities on the Russian side,” said
Thibaut Lallemand, civil aviation
attaché in Moscow.
To perform this task, the former
management controller at the DGAC,
and HEC graduate, had to adapt
to a new culture. “In Russia, personal
exchanges are important, he noted.
It is true that you have to establish
personal relationships but you also need
some realism—even some hardness—
in business: a tricky balancing act, but
fascinating.”
© DR
“human
relations and
trust above all”
For Arnaud Toupet, the air show
organised at Hyderabad, a town
in the south of India, in spring 2010,
was a major task! France was the air
show’s partner country, the DGAC,
the French Aeronautics and Space
Industries Group and UBIFRANCE
were the priority contacts with India
for the air show. “During the whole
setting up of this event I provided
the interface between the Indian
authorities and the French
stakeholders, the civil aviation
engineer (IEEAC) told us. In practice,
the main difficulty arose from the fact
that I had to take into account both
the needs of the French business
delegation and those of the official
delegation. Finally, I was able
to organise the meetings that were
wanted.” This difficulty added to
the experience of this former member
of the Investigations and Analyses
Agency (BEA) in post in New Delhi
since the 1 st of July 2009. “Working
in India is exciting, he said. Here,
what counts above all is human
relations and trust. So, when you are
doing business, you have to be careful
to judge people correctly.”
ARNAUD TOUPeT,
India
© DR