‘Let them be individuals’
LIEZL Gericke, country
manager of Virgin
Atlantic South Africa,
says she never had any
aspirations to work in the
airline industry, but it was
Virgin’s brand that made her
say yes when former country
manager, Simon NewtonSmith,
called her about
taking on the role of sales
and marketing manager.
“Virgin is that one brand
most people die to have
on their CV,” she says. She
joined Virgin in 2012 and at
the beginning of last year,
became country manager.
“Virgin is a very desirable
place to work. There’s just
this intrinsic pride and
energy you feel for the
business,” says Liezl.
Virgin’s mission statement,
to ‘embrace the human
spirit and let it fly’, really
resonates with Liezl. “At
Virgin Atlantic, we encourage
people to bring their own
bright personalities to
work.” She believes it’s this
ethos that sets Virgin apart
from any other business. It
is about creating the right
environment for people to
flourish, says Liezl. “I think
very often you hire people
and force them to be the
way that you want them to
be instead of letting them
be individuals.”
In the beginning
For Liezl, travel was always
going to play a huge role in
her life. When she was only
five years old, she would sit
on her dad’s lap and trawl
through all the photos of his
journeys.
He was in the British
Army and spent a lot of
time flying aircraft between
England and South Africa.
It is only fitting that his
daughter now finds herself
heading up one of Britain’s
leading airlines in South
Africa.
Unsure about what she
wanted to do after Matric,
Liezl took a gap year and
went to work in Germany.
“It was incredible. The first
three months were absolute
chaos, because you can’t
speak the language and I
lived in a very small town.”
But after three months,
she had picked up enough
German to navigate her way
through daily tasks.
Liezl returned from
her travels inspired and
studied tourism at Wits.
“Whilst I was studying, I
just randomly applied for
positions.”
Before finishing the
course, she had landed her
first job at Flight Centre.
She spent eight years at
STA Travel before getting the
call from Simon prompting
her to join the airline.
Ahead of the game
Virgin Atlantic has always
led the way in innovation,
says Liezl. “We were the
first airline to have seatback
screens on our
planes. We were also the
first airline to introduce
premium economy on board
an aircraft.” She says it’s
important for the airline to
continue being a pioneer of
the industry and one way of
doing this is by listening to
its customers.
Currently, customers are
looking for a personalised
experience, connectivity
and an environmentally
conscious business, says
Liezl. Virgin’s entire fleet will
be equipped with WiFi by the
end of 2017. It is also the
only airline currently testing
biofuels. “We’ve invested
a lot of money in a brandnew
fleet that is hugely
fuel efficient.” Parts of the
aircraft are made from
recycled goods, such as the
chairs, also the uniforms.
“A lot of the decisions we
make are not necessarily
around cost saving, but on
how we can do things that
are more environmentally
friendly.
Getting to know Leizl
Liezl is a bibliophile
and currently has
two books on her
nightstand. The first
is Ego is the Enemy
by Ryan Holiday and
the second is The Girl
on the Train by Paula
Hawkins.
After 16 years of
marriage, Liezl and
her husband, Sean,
celebrated by renewing
their vows in
Las Vegas earlier
this year.
Liezl plans to pass on
her passion for travel
to her two children by
sending them on a
round-the-world
gap year. Liezl and
Sean have been
planning this trip since
before their eldest
turned five.
