Operations Data Analyst in Paisley

Loganair is Scotland's Airline and the UK's largest regional carrier, proudly connecting communities across Scotland, the wider UK, Ireland, and northern Europe with essential scheduled services. Operating a diverse fleet including ATRs, Embraers, and specialist aircraft for remote routes, we serve more UK destinations than any other airline; often to island and highland communities where reliable transport is a lifeline.

As we continue to drive operational excellence, safety, and efficiency in a dynamic regional environment, we're seeking a Data Analyst to become the business expert and system owner for our core operations platform, N-Ops & Crew (N-OC). This role is central to modernising processes, automating workflows, and leveraging data to support safe, compliant, and cost-effective operations.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the primary business owner and expert for the N-OC system (NAVBLUE), collaborating closely with the supplier on configuration, enhancements, troubleshooting, and roadmap development.
• Train, upskill, and empower Operations colleagues to fully utilise N-OC, driving best-practice adoption and system maturity across the team.
• Partner with the Planning Analytics team (using IBM Planning Analytics) to guarantee data accuracy, integrity, and seamless flow from operational sources into management dashboards, board reports, and executive insights.
• Develop, refine, and deliver critical KPIs, statistics, and regulatory reports (CAA/EASA compliance), with a strong emphasis on crew resource forecasting that adheres to Flight Time Limitations (FTL) rules and Loganair's BALPA scheduling agreement.
• Lead advanced crew resource analysis and risk forecasting.
• Model flying requirements against crew availability, proactively highlighting risks to safe operations.
• Factor in leavers, new joiners, training pipeline, annual leave, sickness, absence, customer-specific experience requirements, fleet types, qualifications, and compliance with FTL/BALPA rules.
• Identify inefficiencies and deliver actionable recommendations to Operations management.
• Enhance training tracking for better monitoring, risk mitigation, and integration into crew forecasts.
• Provide accurate data inputs/outputs to support recruitment decisions.
• Conduct thorough delay and disruption root cause analysis (Ground Handling, Airport, Crew, Technical), evaluating impacts on passengers, positioning flights, standby aircraft/crew utilisation, and overall network resilience.
• Produce and improve other operational KPIs and statistics, including crew/trainer utilisation factoring absence, productivity, regulatory and customer compliance, board reports, and roster equality and fairness under BALPA agreements.
• Develop training reporting focused on efficiency and full compliance with employment contracts and union (BALPA) agreements.
• Advance safety and compliance trend analysis, shifting to automated insights from large datasets improving on current approaches of manual sampling.
• Play a pivotal role in key Operations and business-wide projects, providing data expertise and cross-departmental liaison — including initiatives to eliminate waste ('War on Waste'), modernise and automate legacy systems and processes, and explore AI-driven efficiencies.

Requirements

Essential

• Data Analyst experience (ideally 3+ years) in a complex operational environment; aviation/airline background strongly preferred, particularly in crew planning, rostering, or operations.
• Solid analytical skills with expertise in data manipulation, forecasting, root cause analysis, KPI development, and process improvement.
• Proficiency in SQL, advanced Excel, and data visualisation/reporting tools (experience with IBM Planning Analytics highly advantageous).
• Working knowledge of complex crew/operations systems (direct experience with N-OC, NAVBLUE platforms, or similar like Jeppesen is a major plus).
• Strong understanding of aviation operations, with emphasis on crew rostering, utilisation, FTL regulations, and union/BALPA scheduling agreements in a UK context.
• Ability to translate complex business/operational needs into data-driven insights and recommendations.
• Excellent communication and training skills to engage colleagues and present to senior stakeholders.
• Proactive, detail-oriented, and resilient in a fast-paced, safety-critical regional airline environment.

Desirable

• Knowledge of UK/European aviation regulations (CAA, EASA) related to operations, crew, safety, punctuality, and compliance.
• Experience with automation, process optimisation (e.g., Lean), or early AI applications in operations.
• Familiarity with Python/R for advanced analytics.

This is an exciting opportunity to make a tangible impact at the heart of Loganair's operations, helping shape a more efficient, automated, and data-led future while supporting the communities we serve.