Aeroclass instructor John Ingram: Understanding across cultures, particularly for airlines, is very important

For those who have been following our journey from the beginning, John Ingram was probably one of the first Aeroclass instructors both our partners and our learners became familiar with. His course “Aviation Landscape: Exploring the Opportunities & Trends in the Industry” was among the first few launched together with Aeroclass e-learning platform as an on-demand video course. Mr. Ingram was also the first guest of our Expert Talks, where he told us more about himself and his extensive experience in airline management worldwide.

In fact, John’s journey into aviation business began in his early childhood as he grew up just west of Heathrow which already was the main airport – then, just outside London. “I guess you could say from a very early age the sound of aircraft, the sight of aircraft whizzing overhead my house was very much part of my life.’ – tells Mr. Ingram – ’I didn’t feel at that stage, as a young guy running around, I’ll necessarily join an airline”. Even though he went to university and studied geography, John found himself working for an aviation company just a few years later.

As John has always been interested in travel, different places, and different people, he was, as our instructor himself puts it, extremely fortunate to have a few choices after his studies were finished. And one of them was British Airways. “So, I fell into it and joined BA and then off I went on my journey, which thankfully continues, because it’s a fun industry today.”

Mr. Ingram expanded his experience working in a lot of completely different cultural backgrounds, an experience which he finds extremely important when maintaining a management position at any bigger international airline. “It made me think outside of my own immediate environment; secondly, it gave me a real feel for international, cross-cultural aspects. Managing across cultures and understanding across cultures, particularly for airlines, is really important.”

After three decades of maintaining different management positions not only in airport control, but also in sales & marketing, customer service, and operations – both in the UK and overseas, Mr. Ingram found an opportunity to go into more various training assignments.

And then the time came for Mr. Ingram to roll on to the academic side of life, starting with various universities he physically lived near, such as the university in Guilford, and the University of Surrey. And with this transition, the change was made and he finally moved out of the corporate world. Even though the initial shift into teaching wasn’t seamless, he emphasizes that he felt very positive about it.

And now John Ingram makes no secret out of the fact that he is specifically going to move towards e-learning. Of course, he has his own opinion about what is probably missing in the current supply of e-learning for aviation specialists.

“I think it’s going through a lot of change.’ – points out Mr. Ingram, adding that there are always some challenges – ‘Is the content engaging or is it just somebody trying to get a stack of power points and put them onto a virtual format so called, because that’s obviously not going to work.”

John’s unique and extensive experience in the aviation sector – both as a successful manager as well as a prominent scholar – is one of the main reasons his stories, insight, and advice he is ready to give are always exciting, valuable, and entertaining. That is why we strongly encourage you to watch our whole Expert Talk with John – take your time to enjoy his fascinating career story – together with some unique insights into the aviation sector, e-learning market, and the future of both.