Heathrow AOC (Airline Operators Committee)
Operations Manager - Above Wing
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Operations Manager – Above Wing
Reports to: Head of Operations
Location: London Heathrow Airport
Organisation: Heathrow Airline Operators Committee (AOC) Limited
Salary: £68,000–£72,000
Working pattern: Primarily Heathrow-based, Monday–Friday, with out-of-hours operational support required. Some flexibility for hybrid working.
About the role
Heathrow Airline Operators Committee (AOC) Limited is seeking an experienced Operations Manager – Above Wing to act as the airline community’s lead operational representative for passenger-facing and terminal operations at Heathrow.
This is a senior operational and stakeholder-facing role, representing the collective interests of AOC member airlines across matters affecting passenger operations, service performance, resilience, customer experience, and operational change.
The successful candidate will work closely with AOC member airlines, Heathrow Airport Limited, government agencies, regulators, service providers, and the wider airport community. You will provide a credible, evidence-based airline voice, ensuring that decisions affecting above-wing operations properly consider airline and passenger impacts.
You will be expected to build strong relationships, influence without direct authority, and constructively challenge proposals or performance where necessary. The role is focused on achieving practical solutions through collaboration, while escalating material concerns where appropriate.
Key responsibilities
Above-wing operational leadership
- Act as the principal AOC point of contact for member airlines on above-wing operational matters.
- Lead AOC engagement across passenger-facing and terminal activities, including check-in, departures, security, immigration, connections, passenger flow, PRM/passenger assistance, disruption handling, automation/IT, and common-use systems.
- Maintain a strong understanding of operational performance, risks, and airline concerns across Heathrow terminals.
- Represent airline interests in operational decisions, improvement plans, and change programmes.
- Identify operational risks early and work with stakeholders to develop practical mitigations.
Airline community representation and stakeholder management
- Build trusted relationships with airlines, station managers, Heathrow operational teams, ground handlers, UK Border Force, security teams, PRM providers, and other key stakeholders.
- Represent the AOC at relevant terminal, passenger operations, security, immigration, PRM, resilience, disruption, and seasonal readiness forums.
- Gather and represent airline views effectively, recognising differences between individual airlines while supporting agreed community positions.
- Provide clear and timely updates to AOC members and senior stakeholders.
- Support airlines and ground handlers during incidents and disruption, helping ensure effective communication and a swift return to normal operations.
- Influence and challenge senior stakeholders without direct authority, balancing collaboration with robust challenge.
Performance, service delivery, and continuous improvement
- Monitor above-wing performance using KPIs, SLAs, MTIs, ECAC measures, QSM results, and other operational indicators.
- Use data, operational observation, and airline feedback to identify performance gaps, risks, and improvement opportunities.
- Challenge performance where reporting does not reflect the operational reality experienced by airlines and passengers.
- Work with Heathrow and service providers to develop measurable and deliverable improvement plans.
- Hold stakeholders and service providers to account against agreed standards and service obligations.
- Ensure lessons from incidents, trials, and major operational events are captured and translated into practical improvements.
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PRM and passenger assistance
- Act as the AOC operational lead on PRM and passenger assistance matters.
- Represent airline interests with Heathrow, PRM providers, the CAA, and other stakeholders.
- Monitor service delivery against relevant ECAC, CAA, and contractual expectations.
- Challenge poor performance, weak root-cause analysis, or inadequate improvement plans.
- Improve visibility of PRM performance, operational readiness, data, and passenger impacts.
- Support improvements to the end-to-end passenger assistance journey across arrivals, departures, and connections.
Security, immigration, and passenger flow
- Lead AOC engagement on above-wing security and border matters.
- Work with Heathrow Security, UK Border Force, and airlines to understand and address operational impacts.
- Monitor passenger processing performance across security, transfer security, immigration, and border control.
- Ensure proposed changes properly consider airline impacts, passenger experience, capacity, and operational risk.
- Support the airline community in responding to changes in government, security, and border requirements.
Operational resilience and disruption
- Represent AOC airlines in seasonal readiness, resilience, contingency, and disruption planning.
- Ensure above-wing impacts are properly considered in weather disruption, IT failures, security incidents, evacuations, Border Force disruption, industrial action, terminal congestion, and infrastructure works.
- Challenge Heathrow and other stakeholders to provide clear, actionable risk information and contingency arrangements.
- Support incident reviews, lessons learned, and improvement activity.
- Ensure airlines receive timely and practical communications during operational disruption.
Operational change and projects
- Provide operational input into projects and change programmes affecting above-wing operations.
- Assess passenger and airline impacts of proposed capital and transformation programmes.
- Ensure airline views are considered in project design, trials, implementation, and post-implementation review.
- Support operational readiness for security transformation, passenger automation, common-use systems, digital passenger journeys, PRM systems, terminal redevelopment, and immigration infrastructure.
- Challenge proposals where operational impacts are unclear, benefits are not demonstrated, or value for money is questionable.
Communication and reporting
- Provide clear written and verbal updates, briefings, and reports for AOC members and senior stakeholders.
- Translate complex operational issues into concise, evidence-based, and actionable information.
- Maintain clear records of key decisions, risks, actions, and escalations.
- Ensure communications focus on what airlines need to know, the required action, and the expected operational impact.
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About you
You will be an experienced aviation or airport operations professional with strong knowledge of passenger-facing airport processes and the confidence to operate effectively in a complex, high-profile environment.
Essential experience
- Significant experience in airport, airline, or aviation operations.
- Strong understanding of passenger-facing airport and terminal processes.
- Experience working with multiple stakeholders in a complex operational environment.
- Experience in performance management, service improvement, or operational change.
- Proven ability to challenge and influence senior internal and external stakeholders.
- Strong analytical, communication, problem-solving, and operational judgement skills.
- Experience working under pressure in a live operational environment.
- Experience producing clear written briefings, reports, or stakeholder updates.
Desirable experience
- Direct Heathrow operational experience.
- Experience representing airline community interests or working across multiple airlines.
- Experience in above-wing operations, terminal operations, PRM/passenger assistance, security, immigration, or airport IT/automation.
- Knowledge of Heathrow governance forums and operational structures.
- Understanding of CAA expectations, airport regulatory frameworks, and passenger service measures.
- Experience of operational readiness, system implementation, automation, or passenger process transformation.
- Familiarity with common-use systems, PRM systems, or airport community communication platforms.
What success looks like
You will strengthen the airline community’s voice on above-wing matters and improve the quality of engagement between airlines, Heathrow, and service providers.
Success will include:
- Earlier identification and resolution of operational risks.
- Improved above-wing performance, resilience, and passenger experience.
- Stronger PRM and passenger assistance oversight.
- More effective airline representation in operational forums and change programmes.
- Better quality performance reporting, escalation, and improvement plans.
- Stronger communication with airlines during disruption and operational change.
- Practical, collaborative solutions to operational challenges.
- Trusted relationships across airlines, Heathrow, and the wider airport community.
Benefits
- Salary: £68,000–£72,000
- Pension
- Life assurance
- Private medical benefits
- Car parking included
- Further benefit details to be confirmed.
Application details
- Closing date: 4 September 2026
- Interviews: Phase one will take place on 14, 17, and 18 September 2026, with phase two on 23 and 24 September 2026. Dates and times will be agreed with candidates within these timeframes.
- Applicants should submit a CV.
- Candidates must have the right to work in the UK and be able to demonstrate a five-year employment/reference history, including any gaps, to meet airport ID pass requirements.
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