Commercial Director Lelystad Airport joins board Aviodrome Aviation Museum: "Ensuring inspiration"

The board of Aviodrome Aviation Museum has a new member. Jan Eerkens, Commercial Director Lelystad Airport, joins the three other board members of the Aviodrome Collection Foundation.

The goal of the Aviodrome Collection Foundation is to make the largest history of aviation collection in the Netherlands accessible to young and old. "We want to teach people something about the development of aviation and the role of the Netherlands or Dutch people in it. At Aviodrome Aviation Museum, they do that cleverly. The collection and activities are interesting for every age group," Eerkens says.

Aviodrome
Aviation has played an important role in Dutch history and will continue to do so in the future, Eerkens knows. "Moreover, aviation is instructive and there are numerous innovations possible, for example in the areas of aviation safety, environment or noise. We want to challenge people on that."

The knowledge and expertise at Aviodrome Aviation Museum are of great value in this regard. The foundation's collection is displayed here and the Aviation Museum performs the tasks necessary to manage and preserve the pieces belonging to the collection. "Aviodrome is incredibly important. Together with the knowledge of the employees and the many volunteers, we can manage and develop the collection," Eerkens said.

Develop
When this board position with the Aviodrome Collection Foundation became available, Eerkens was immediately excited. "The foundation is enormously valuable and I am proud to be part of this team. Together we need to realize how beautiful and great aviation is in the Netherlands. The Aviodrome Collection foundation makes an important contribution to this. In addition, it is also a great opportunity to develop myself in the role of board member."

"What our plans are? Of course we want to keep our collection and eventually expand it. We have plans for that," he indicates. As a board member, Eerkens also wants to contribute to making the foundation more visible and tap into new partners. "We currently have agreements with parties such as the BankGiro Lottery and KLM. Together with the other board members, I want to look at other parties who are interested in committing to us. These are companies and individuals who have a warm heart for the foundation, in the broadest sense of the word."

Passion for aviation
Eerkens has worked for the Royal Schiphol Group for 15 years and has been with Lelystad Airport since the summer of 2017, where he is responsible for all commercial activities, marketing and communications. "Our task is to make the airport ready for commercial traffic. That's quite an organizational and process task, because then you're talking about realizing, for example, a new passenger terminal, new runway and a new control tower. The organization has also expanded considerably. We are now waiting for a positive decision from politicians. We have gone through all the steps and are ready."

"Aviation is a very exciting, challenging environment and I have developed a great passion for it in recent years. The fact that I can carry that passion out in my role at Lelystad Airport as well as the Aviodrome Collection Foundation is heartening."