TAG Aviation’s dispatchers support its global operations from bases in the UK and Hong Kong, as Nominated Person, Ground Operations Andrew Miller explains
TAG Aviation’s dispatchers work across Asia and Europe. What is the team’s composition and how does it manage to serve every TAG location?
TAG Aviation’s dispatchers form the Ground Operations Team within the Operations Control Centre (OCC), providing 24/7 operational support across Asia and Europe. The team comprises 27 members based in Farnborough, UK and Hong Kong, including managers, supervisors, specialists, controllers, officers and apprentices. They work in shifts to share responsibilities seamlessly across these locations and time zones, ensuring consistent coverage and reliable support wherever TAG’s customers operate.
TAG is well known as a training provider – do you train both your own dispatchers and those of other companies? What is the essential knowledge for a dispatcher and what are the required skills?
Our dispatchers are trained in line with EASA, UK CAA and FAA regulations. They also complete regular recurrent training to keep compliant with these regulations. The dispatchers complete training courses provided by TAG Global Training in Europe and have helped develop online courses for their new Learning Management System, TGT Climb, which are available for other companies to use.
The OCC team is made up of people from a variety of backgrounds, including air traffic control, airline flight planning and aviation software design. They have dispatch licence, ATPL and university qualifications. To be a dispatcher you must have good communication, problem-solving and teamwork skills, as well as a love for aviation! TAG is also looking at future talent, with two apprentices successfully completing Ground Operations Apprenticeship Courses.
How do your customers access the dispatch team?
Customers access TAG’s dispatch team through their usual client services or charter contacts, with support fully integrated into aircraft management. The OCC acts as the operational hub, handling feasibility checks, scheduling, crew and maintenance coordination, and real-time flight planning and monitoring. Dispatch works closely with client services and charter teams from the outset, ensuring seamless communication, coordinated details, and compliant, efficient execution of every flight.
How important is local knowledge to a dispatcher’s work?
Local knowledge is very important. TAG operates worldwide, so understanding the different requirements and regulations of countries and the airports we operate to is vital. We work closely with trusted local agents and suppliers to ensure all flights go smoothly. A few members of the OCC speak different languages, which can help clarify requests and understand local requirements. We like to live up to our strap line: ‘Global Presence, Local Insight’.
Can you explain a dispatcher’s role in a typical flight?
Key functions of a dispatcher include:
- Flight planning: selecting optimum routes, analysing weather, contingency planning and fuel requirements
- Ensuring compliance with regulations and permits: arranging overflight and landing permits in advance of a flight, arranging customs and immigration clearances at point of departure and arrival, and slot coordination at airports
- Trip coordination: arranging ground and aircraft handling services, monitoring crew flight time limitations, assisting with crew visas, booking crew hotels and arranging concierge services for passengers
- Flight watch: tracking aircraft in real time, keeping the Client Services Team up to date with timings and alerting them in case of delays or diversions
Expectations are always high, but is there an example where the OCC team went above and beyond?
Recently one of our clients’ aircraft suffered an AOG event while it was en route taking the family away for their Christmas vacation. The OCC team liaised with our Maintenance Control Centre (MCC) to find the best location to get the aircraft fixed, arranged services to get the aircraft to this location, flight planned the aircraft there under technical restrictions, assisted our Client Services team in arranging charter uplift for the passengers and booked them on to alternative airline flights so that they could resume their holiday. On anticipation of the aircraft being fixed, the team rearranged all services and permissions so that the aircraft could join the client to complete onward sectors.
With dispatch team members in Europe and Asia, how does TAG keep its people connected and in touch with company goals? Is there a dispatcher community?
TAG keeps its dispatch teams connected and aligned through weekly feedback meetings, shared systems, and regular team calls that cover updates, regulations, events, improvements and successes. As a member of the UK Operations Members Association (UKOMA) and an active participant in industry events, TAG also fosters wider collaboration with peers and suppliers, ensuring dispatchers remain engaged with company goals and industry standards.
How is technology changing the dispatcher’s role? How do you see it evolving into the future?
We can see an increased use of AI from today’s semi-automated systems to full AI-supported operations. AI could assist with flight planning optimisation, handling the administrative and logistical elements of trip set-up, improve crew roster efficiency, analyse fuel burns to assist dispatchers with flight plan modelling and, based on historical data, forecast airspace congestion and airport delays and suggest alternatives.