| The matter with the driftwood. |
  "Never heard of this airport", responded a good old friend of mine from the USA, who works in the area of business aviation (also a potential client of our airport). When we met at New York’s Kennedy Airport, I had tried to explain to him where St.Gallen-Altenrhein is located, had told him of Lake Constance, the tri-country area of Eastern Switzerland, Vorarlberg and Liechtenstein, as well as about the benefits of a small uncomplicated airport centrally located in Europe as an alternative to the large hubs.Pretty soon I realized – even though he had responded to some of my explanations with an “Oh, really?”- back home he would have already forgotten what I had told him. At that very moment I remembered the little piece of driftwood in my pocket, that I had found the day before on the shore of Lake Constance and had put in my pocket. I took out of my pocket and placed it in his hand. I told him that this piece of wood had still been floating in Lake Constance yesterday. Such a piece of driftwood went through a lot of experiences on its trip from the mountains through creeks and the river to the lake. Who possesses such a piece of driftwood and puts it under his pillow will always notice the good positive energy. My friend looked more than surprised but he accepted the driftwood that I had given to him as a present and we then said goodbye. A week later the telephone rang in my office; my American friend called me. “I told the story about the driftwood to my wife and friends. It helped me telling them the things you said about your airport and Lake Constance. But, what was the name of your airport again? Saint Gally or something like it? At that day at the airport, we decided to change our way of communication, to not be a gateway from heaven to earth  but rather a positive energizing location, to be aware of our own unique identity and to also live this, no longer imitating the technocratic routines of a large airport but rather provide service from people to people and… to present all this under a new name that would symbolize our efforts:For people. By people. Welcome at People’s Business Airport St.Gallen-Altenrhein Armin Unternährer, CEO |
for people. by people