The Ariel Team

Chris Robson-Smith

With over 40 years of experience in the airline industry, Chris founded Ariel Flight Services in 2007. A former director of a major UK airline, he has also worked for Canadian and European airlines at General Manager level, as well as with handling agents Servisair and Aviance.

As a director of Ariel, Chris has consulted for European scheduled carriers, working with their handling agents in defining ground service requirements and negotiating cost savings.

He also has extensive experience in supervising flight operations at both civilian airports and military air bases in the UK, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Clients have included IATA where he was an SME (Subject Matter Expert) on Airport Ramp Services and Passenger Ground Services for their distance-learning department.

Ian Avery

Co-founder of Ariel Flight Services, Ian started his career with Lufthansa in 1982, working at Manchester, Heathrow and other airports in the UK and Europe.

After over a decade with Lufthansa, he entered the ground handling industry and held senior management positions at Servisair, including Training and Standards Co-ordinator and Overseas Business Development Manager. Subsequently he moved to GlobeGround as Station Manager Stansted, before joining Swissport as General Manager responsible for Manchester, Birmingham and Gatwick.

Prior to becoming a director with Ariel, he worked at over thirty airports in the UK and Europe. At Ariel, Ian has handled both military and civilian contracts and provided consultancy and troubleshooting services to airlines and ground handlers.

Karen McLoughlin

Karen joined Ariel Flights Services in 2012, having previously been Station Manager Dublin for Lufthansa.

She began her aviation career with Aer Lingus at Dublin in 1987, moving to Lufthansa in 1989 where she gained huge experience in all aspects of the aviation industry. As Lufthansa’s Station Manager for Dublin, Karen’s responsibilities encompassed budget planning, contract negotiation, handling agent performance, cargo charters, direct operational supervision and auditing, as well as optimising Lufthansa’s sales, quality and customer service.

Karen has hands-on experience of dealing with a number of emergency situations. She worked closely with Dublin Airport as a key member of their AOC and has managed many EU government flights, military flights, and VIP charters in her work with Lufthansa and now with Ariel