In January 2020, Andres Aragon, a in-charge flight attendant with Air Canada Rouge, was returning from vacation with his partner from Palm Springs, and they noticed something was very different. All the travellers at Toronto's Pearson International arriving from certain international routes were wearing masks. The word Coronavirus was still just a little bleep in the newscasts.
"It was very difficult at first to gauge how long all of this would last," says Aragon. "We were seeing what was happening in the news. A lot of us (flight crew), were starting to get nervous because at that point, we didn't know much as we weren't given clear cut information from anyone - the government, medical advisors; no one was really saying you should wear a mask yet.
It was like an avalanche because it started as a little ball, growing and continually coming at you!"
Aragon was only one year into his flight attendant career then, having spent the better portion before in corporate jobs, ranging from insurance to HR. Before joining Rouge, he had worked in disability management at Air Canada, and says the "airline industry is in his blood." A native of Santiago, Chile, his dad was an aircraft engineer and worked for many airlines, and Aragon himself started working in the industry in high school at First Air (Canadian North).
"I've seen airplanes in ways that people have never seen. I know that an airplane is very much like a bird. And you can take all the feathers, all the skin, all of it off… you can see the bare bones of an airplane," he explains. "I can tell you how they work, and every little rivet and every little piece of sheet metal that goes on and compiles…. an airplane is like a piece of art."
Aragon made the move to flight attendant in March 2019, almost one year to the date before the start of the pandemic.
"I needed a break. And I was at a point in my life where I could actually take that break. Airlines are in my blood. And I love traveling, those feelings were there. When the plane takes off and the wheels are up…that is when my heart beats, that is the feeling I love."
Like so many in the industry, when COVID hit, Aragon was devastated. He had watched previously typically oversold flights drop to 80% capacity, then 50%, then two to three passengers per flight within a week. In his last week of flying in March, there was only one passenger on an entire domestic flight on an Airbus 320 and two passengers flying to Florida on an Airbus 321.
It's not something you hear flight crews say often, but for Aragon, his favourite part of his job was the babies on board. He laughs when he explains how he'd tell others about the cute baby he made smile on his flight and how happy he got seeing parents and grandparents excited for their trips.
"I loved the passengers and my life was forever changed, so I needed to find a different niche, something that I could segue into, something that would provide me the opportunity to still feel like I'm fulfilled by helping people. And real estate was it for me, because that was the only industry that I could think of that was not impacted negatively by this pandemic."
Aragon trained to become a REALTOR® through Humber College and is now focused not only on helping people find new homes but particularly those in the airline industry. He knows the area well and though Toronto prices are high, home buyers who are flight attendants could benefit from living closer to work (the airport) where leases and home prices are lower. Especially those who are first time home buyers.
"Whatever I can do to help anyone in the travel industry to feel a little more comfortable and at ease with whatever's going on, I'll do it. I'm more than happy to help and show them exactly how to do that. If I can own anyone can own," he says.
"Buying a home seems overwhelming and daunting, but I can help make it less so. Most things in life that are good do seem overwhelming and daunting at the time, but you just have to take it one step at a time"
Real estate is also a career that when the travel industry gets back to normal, will give him the flexibility to return to the skies.
"I miss all of my airline colleagues. I miss the ground handlers. I miss my Air Canada colleagues. I miss the ticket agents. I can't wait to be able to hug them and see what they've been up to.
I want to be a flight attendant forever. I am dying to go back. And if I can do both, then I'll be in absolute heaven."
To learn more about Aragon real estate offerings, click here or send an email to aragon@royallepage.ca.
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