You won’t miss it if you fly first class or business class with Emirates Airlines – international newspapers in various titles neatly folded and arranged on the racks at the First and Business Class lounges. If you want to read your preferred newspaper, a friendly Filipino staff clad in white long-sleeved shirt, black shoes and pants, and wearing proper identification is more than happy to assist you.
Formed in March 2016, Atlas Newspaper Division’s airport team has been dutifully making sure international newspapers are at the passengers’ disposal whenever they need them. Composed of eight personnel — Jennifer Tugna, Ronnel Romen, Laine Tragora, Mark Sherwin Perlawan, Jennifer Turingan, Cristio Ballaran, Jessaerald Guardian, and Noel de Guzman—the team is the lifeblood of Atlas Group’s airport newspaper placement service for Emirates Airlines.
The Atlas Newspaper Division has been printing and supplying international newspapers on demand in original or digital format to Emirates Airlines. The past year, however, saw the division expand to include regular supply and placement service of over 70 international newspaper titles in all the business class and first class lounges of Emirates Airlines.
The entire process is quite intricate and involves strong coordination between the airport staff, Atlas Newspaper Division team headed by Operations Director Edgar Theodore, Atlas Inflight Resources (AIR) Division Manager Manish Talreja, Client Service Executive Roselyn David, Production Manager Swapnil Jawale, and the delivery staff. A training manual was created to make sure everyone’s role is clearly defined and the process is strictly followed.
The newspapers are printed, packed and delivered 12 times throughout the day and night. These time slots are crucial because Atlas Group prints international newspaper titles as they are received from different publishers, with the various time zones taken into consideration.
The slots were created to ensure that the newspapers are delivered to the catering company responsible for loading them into the aircraft three hours prior to takeoff.
The delivery staff take the newspapers through two security scans and deliver these to the various concourses. The lounge staff receive the newspapers and carefully arrange them per title on the racks.
The previous day’s newspapers are counted and disposed. The quantity of newspapers and time of placement are noted and entered into the database. A snapshot of the report is shared on Whatsapp group chat by the staff. This helps provide real time consumption analysis to Emirates Airlines.
The team has to make sure someone is manning the racks at all times, so the airport staff work in two shifts, with shift timings from 10:30 A.M. to 8:30 P.M. and 11:30 P.M. to 8:30 A.M.
As the airport newspaper team nears its first year anniversary on the job, the Atlas Newspaper Division is poised to explore similar business tie-ups with other airlines.
