Onsite with a Customer Support Manager: Brett Salathiel

What got you into the Aviation industry?

I joined the Royal Australian Air Force as an aeronautical engineer in 2011 and commenced my studies at the National Aerospace Center of Excellence. In 2013, I completed my platform-specific training on the Boeing C-17A Globemaster III in Seattle, Washington, with the United States Air Force.

What experiences have led you to support customers for Honeywell?

The combination of skills that I have built over the years has led me to my current role. In addition to aviation, I have worked as a site engineer for a Tier 1 construction company. Ensuring programming stays in-line with critical milestones that have strict contractual time frames is essential for on-schedule delivery. These same requirements apply to the aviation industry.

These experiences have helped refine my customer support abilities, and I enjoy solving client challenges focusing on completing tasks right and fast.

Please tell me about a time you went above and beyond for a customer.

As all components age and face the inevitable reality that they will one day become unserviceable, this prompts the customer to find a replacement. Recently, this caused their aircraft to become AOG for one of my customers. Unfortunately, global stocks had been exhausted due to a spike in demand. To help the customer solve this issue, I reached out to the original equipment manufacturer and requested that we work collaboratively to assist our mutual client. In the end, we were able to source a brand-new component from the aircraft assembly line and provided it to the customer who was extremely thankful for our support.

How do you connect with your CSM colleagues and share best practices?

I currently host a daily call that brings together all the Customer Support Managers and Field Service Engineers within APAC. This provides the team with the ability to discuss current issues and the optimal method for dealing with them and ultimately solving customers’ inquiries or concerns. Additionally, I try to coordinate my Customer Connect visits with an FSE. That way, we can provide customer support as a team.

What do you enjoy about supporting Asia-Pacific customers?

Aviation is entrenched in my DNA and is a large part of who I am. I love what I do as I can assist others with complex issues that require a detailed approach. I thoroughly enjoy having the ability to make a real difference to our customers’ operational abilities. It is this unique experience that I can provide to operators that truly makes it all worthwhile.