Sometimes life throws unexpected storms at us, and sometimes they happen one after the other without a break! But exactly the same storms have the power to strengthen and grow. This perfectly describes the time when Vilius Lukošiūnas, newly appointed Vice President Finance, started his journey at Avion Express. In the midst of a few unexpected crises, his team and professionalism only grew and strengthened.
The career start of Vilius was marked with challenging events. He joined Avion Express as Head of Financial Control at the end of 2019. “In the finance department, the end of the year means auditing and closing accounts, which is the busiest time of the year,” explains Vilius. Not long after the end of the financial year, the world was shaken by the global pandemic in 2020, as if starting a new job and joining the company during the most active times was not a sufficient challenge.
“Pandemic definitely was a type of crisis nobody expected. For the aviation industry this period brought massive losses. I was gradually involved in crisis management. From the start of my career at Avion Express, there was no easy period. Soon the company started financial restructuring” tells Vilius.
During difficult times Vilius was part of a small finance team. Progressively, events started taking a positive turn and in 2021 Vilius became Finance Manager. As the effects of the pandemic began to diminish and the company began to grow, so did his finance team. Currently, Vilius manages finance, accounting and IT departments, and the team will probably continue to grow in the future.
Vilius spent two and a half years at Avion Express, during which he and his team survived several storms. After these turbulent times, becoming Vice President Finance has undoubtedly had a positive impact on him. It marks a successful journey despite the difficulties.
When asked what he’s doing in his free time when he’s not dealing with finances, Vilius says he likes sports and spending time in nature. “I’ve been playing volleyball for almost 20 years. Now I’m more interested in nature sports like cycling and running. I’m also a chess fan,” he replies.
Nevertheless, leadership in finance requires a certain set of personal traits that help to navigate challenges and drive the company towards its goals. When asked about what qualities help him in the career of finance, Vilius answers: “Patience. Also, colleagues describe me as calm and with a clear and collected mind. Those qualities help to make good decisions. As well, I try to invest my time and energy into building good relationships with people” tells Vilius, who is also proud of his team, because without them overcoming challenges wouldn’t be possible.
Before joining Avion Express, Vilius wasn’t familiar with aviation. Out of all other jobs he had, this one is by far his most exciting and interesting job. “In general, finance functions in different companies tend to have similar processes and tasks. Although, when you’re working with aircraft, it’s unique. Not only the market-specific business processes themselves, but also you can’t ignore the romantic component of the industry. Recently I had a chance to fly with one of our aircraft. It’s very motivating to be able to experience the end result of a part of my job in 3D” says Vilius.
Vice President Finance Vilius Lukošiūnas is glad that Avion Express has a rather non-standard culture. The company has an open approach and puts a lot of emphasis on communication. „This helps to build honest connections. Also, it’s important that the values of the person and the company would match. For me, this is the case” says Vilius.
