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A background in aviation management didn't surprise me at all, when I asked Nico Bezuidenout about his career history - but finding out he once organised concerts for the likes of Michael Jackson and Def Leppard did.
Growing up in South Africa, he went to university to study transport economics and industrial psychology but soon decided that wasn't exactly the right subject for him.
"(I was) young and naive at the time, and I never really had any idea that I'm going to end up in transport. I ended up studying economics, but didn't pay enough attention and it was easier to switch to transporting. Then I went into the rock concert industry, of all things."
Whilst working in rock concert promotion in South Africa during the 1990s, Nico was involved in the promotion of both Michael Jackson and Def Leppard's tours to the country.
That then led him to other opportunities as the technology he used in his work started to advance too.
"(I) started an online ticketing company in the late 90s, and because I was one of the first people in South Africa to start anything online, when South African Airways wanted to embrace e-commerce at the time, they approached me to join them, which I decided to do for two year period.
"I started heading up their e-commerce and distribution, then they asked me to do an assessment of how should they respond as a traditional full service carrier to competition to low cost carriers?
"I did an assessment for them and gave them four options that I think they should do, one of which was start your own independent low cost carrier and run it as an arm's length business, to which they then said 'fine, we like the fourth option, and we want you to go and do that'. From there, I was then given $10 million as seed capital and advised to go start an airline and run it independently from South African Airways. And from there, Mango Airlines was born."
Mango Airlines remains in service today - although financial troubles hit a peak earlier this year, with Ubuntu Air Services, a partnership between Randburg-based DG Capital and Africa Stay, making a successful bid to buy it.
Despite those more recent troubles, Nico was very happy during his time at the helm.
"(We) operated a 737-800 aircraft and it was a really interesting time in my in my career. I ran that airline for 14 years, pulled it from zero market share to a 25% market share in South Africa, and it was profitable for eight out of 10 years. And it was a very happy, happy time."
Pictured: Nico Bezuidenhout moved to Guernsey to take up his role as CEO of Aurigny in October 2020.
Having gained experience over 14 years, Nico was now headhunted for a new opportunity by Mango's parent company. (It's) a much bigger organisation, with 12,000 employees, and maintenance facilities. And that was a different challenge at that time.
"During that time, I was president of the IATA AGM (the International Air Transport Association's Annual General Meeting), which is an interesting thing. It was the first time that Africa ever hosted an IATA AGM and in that context you have about 2000 airline senior executives coming together once every two years.
"I served on the Star Alliance Chief Executive Board on two occasions, and then ended up leaving leaving South African Airways. It's a state owned business and let's just say there was conflict at a political level.
From there, Nico joined forces with another aviation expert - namely the man behind EasyJet.
"I joined Stelios with fastjet plc, now fastjet.
"The principle for fastjet was to replicate EasyJet in Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and different countries. I ran that for three and a bit years, and then I got tempted back to Mango and South African Airways, and just about then the pandemic hit."
Even with his experience in aviation, the pandemic brought challenges that no one anticipated with aircraft grounded across the world and travel banned in most places.
Nearly 9,000 km away a much smaller airline than he had ever worked at before was starting its search for a new CEO.
Guernsey fared better than many places during the pandemic with lockdowns lifting earlier than in neighbouring jurisdictions - even if travel on and off island was impacted by rules elsewhere.
The lifeline services were maintained at a reduced level but an air bridge with the Isle of Man proved popular when restrictions on socialising were lifted in both islands.
This coincided with the Bezuidenhout family looking for somewhere new to settle down.
"During (the pandemic) my wife had been affected with violent crimes on at least two occasions at gunpoint, and from that standpoint decided that we, as much as I love South Africa, but we needed a safer environment. And then came across to Guernsey."
When he applied for his job here, Nico knew it would be a different experience to his prior work roles.
"Aurigny is a unique airline, a different airline, much smaller than what I was used to but on the upside, it gave me a lot of exposure. Through your career, you tend to jump and skip certain steps where, with a smaller airline like this, it forces you to go back and actually pay attention to the detail."
The move to Guernsey happened in October 2020, meaning they've now been living here for four years.
Nico, his wife, and their 11-year-old daughter are all based in the island, but their sons are in Dublin and Southampton.
"(We're) enjoying life in Guernsey as a family," Nico confirmed.
"That's the attraction - it's a safe, nice environment for a young family. And that was the main reason."
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