As AI Changes the Aviation Workforce, HR Executive Paula Sacks Is Focused on What Comes Next.

AI has become one of the biggest conversations in the workforce.

But most of the conversation focuses on what AI can do.

I wanted to understand what it means for the people doing the work.

So I sat down with Paula Sacks, Chief Human Resources Officer at Atlantic Aviation, who has spent more than 25 years leading people, talent, culture, and organizational change.

Our conversation left me with a much bigger question:

If AI gives us time back, what should we do with it?

Paula sees enormous potential in AI.

It can take manual work off people's plates, analyze information faster and create more capacity for higher-value work, from corporate functions to frontline operations.

But what do we do with that capacity?

Paula's answer kept coming back to people.

Coaching. Leadership. Judgment. Relationships.

The things technology can support, but not necessarily develop for us.

I use AI every day. I love it.

But lately I've been wondering what we're losing by getting the answer so quickly.

When I was preparing to fly around the world, I studied charts, airports, weather and routes.

But some of the most valuable information came from pilots who had actually been there.

Those conversations happened at Oshkosh with a B-52 roaring overhead. At BACE receptions with people talking over one another. In hangars on Saturday mornings as pilots headed out for the $100 hamburger.

Here's what surprised me.

Here's the mistake I made.

Here's what I wish I had done differently.

Today, AI could probably answer many of the questions I was asking.

But it couldn't recreate those moments.

The conversations. The questions. The relationships. The time spent learning from someone else's experience and slowly developing my own judgment and confidence.

That process was essential to my success.

Paula described it as the “wisdom and the grit and the scrappiness” we develop through experience.

And it raises an important question:

If AI starts doing some of the work we once learned through, how will the next generation develop the judgment they'll eventually need to lead?

That question isn't theoretical.

PwC's 2026 Global AI Jobs Barometer found that skills are changing 66% faster in jobs most exposed to AI.

As the work changes, Paula believes human skills become even more valuable.

Empathy. Leadership. Judgment. Trust.

As she put it:

“The human connection becomes even more important and more valuable.”

That also means bringing employees into the change. Paula made the point that when AI feels like something simply happening to people, fear is a natural response.

Leadership matters in helping people understand how to use these tools without losing the experience, relationships and judgment that make them good at what they do.

I'm excited about what AI can do for aviation. Paula is too.

But this conversation made me think differently about what we should protect as we adopt it.

Maybe mentorship, experience, and human connection become more important because of AI, not less.

My full conversation with Paula Sacks, Chief Human Resources Officer at Atlantic Aviation, is now available on AVIATE with Shaesta.

Listen on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts. Listen now.

Until next time,
Shaesta