Nathan Burkitt named COO of Hans Airways
Monday 9th May 2022
The Board of Hans Airways, the UK’s new long-haul airline planning regular scheduled flights from Birmingham to India, has promoted Nathan Burkitt to Chief Operating Officer. Nathan has worked with the start up since December 2019, supporting CEO Satnam Saini, selecting and overseeing pilot and cabin crew recruitment and training in his original role as Director of Flight Operations and Crew Training. Nathan joined Hans Airways from Virgin Australia, where he was Manager, Flight standards, overseeing flight operations training and standards.
Nathan brings 17 years’ senior operational experience to the airline with a diverse, international flying career which started with ATR turboprops and Avro RJ100s at CityFlyer Express, Gatwick. He moved to Britannia Airways on the B757/B767 for 14 years, followed by Thomson/TUI and LCC ThomsonFly, becoming Head of Training (TRTO) and Training Manager, before joining Virgin Atlantic as Training Standards Manager. Here he was first introduced to the Airbus A330, the aircraft type Hans Airways has selected. Following Virgin Atlantic, Nathan worked for Fastjet as Head of Flight Operations and Training (Group) , Wow Air in Iceland and Norwegian UK as Chief Pilot and Deputy Head of Training.
“Over the past two and a half years Hans Airways has attracted a talented group of professionals and I am delighted to be widening my responsibilities with the company. I love the hard work and energy that goes into new start airlines and I’m working closely with the UK Civil Aviation Authority toward our important CAA proving flight when our first Airbus A330 arrives early June,” Nathan Burkitt said.
“I am extremely grateful to Nathan for all he has contributed to date in establishing an exceptional operations team. Having someone of his calibre and experience will serve us very well as we prepare for commercial launch,” said Satnam Saini.
Nathan Burkitt, COO of Hans Airways
About Hans Airways
Hans Airways is the UK’s newest hybrid, long-haul airline venture, blending value for money fares with a quality inflight service offering. Hans Airways will offer two classes of cabins: Economy class (called "Anand Class"), with a 31-inch seat pitch and 274 seats, and Premium Economy (called "Anand Plus"), offering a 56" pitch and 24 seats. It will offer high quality complementary inflight entertainment and catering as standard.
A loyalty programme is planned. To be known as HAPEEI (Hans Airways Passengers Environment Education Initiative), it will reward passengers with all the regular benefits of a frequent flyer programme and with a strong emphasis on corporate social responsibility, create opportunities to donate to children’s educational charities in India or conservation and water preservation projects.
Hans Airways’ senior management has identified a high demand for regular secondary city air links between the UK and India, drawing on its CEO’s considerable experience instigating a series of charter flights for Monarch Airlines and FlyJet.
It intends to have a close working relationship with travel agencies and travel management companies.
Hans Airways submitted its UK AOC application in March 2020, following extensive discussions with the UK Civil Aviation Authority and Department for Transport.
Hans Airways’ management team (see Board of Directors and Leadership Team ) share an extensive experience of the commercial aviation industry and a deep understanding of the needs of its core focus market. Financial support for the airline has come, inter alia, from the Indian community in the UK (see Investor Relations ).
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