Strategy Summit Speakers
H.E. Engineer Kamal bin Ahmed Mohammed
Kingdom of Bahrain, Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications
His Excellency Engineer Kamal bin Ahmed Mohamed was appointed Minister of Transportation in February 2012 and in December 2014 as Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications. He holds overall responsibility for Bahrain’s transport infrastructure covering policy, regulation and the development and delivery of projects to meet the Kingdom’s future transport needs, as well as the country’s postal services. He is also responsible for implementing policies and developing the telecommunications industry in the Kingdom.
Prior to his appointment as Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications, Kamal bin Ahmed was Minister of Cabinet Affairs from February 2011. He previously spent 7 years at the Economic Development Board leaving his role as Chief Operating Officer to become a Government Minister.
He is currently a board member of the following organisations:
- Vice Chairman Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company (Mumtalakat)
- Vice Chairman Gulf Air Board
- Bahrain Economic Development Board
- National Authority of Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority for Education and Training (QQA)
- Supreme Council for Education and Training Development
Kamal bin Ahmed holds a Bachelors in Civil Engineering from the University of Bahrain and a Master’s Degree in International Project Management from Leeds University.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Dr. Elijah Chingosho
Secretary General, African Airlines Association
Dr Elijah Chingosho is the Secretary General and CEO of AFRAA and in this capacity provides strategic direction to the Association and promotes the common interests of member airlines in conjunction with the Executive Committee. Engineer Elijah holds three Masters Degrees in Aeronautical Engineering and Design, Business Administration and Transport Economics as well as a Doctorate in Business Administration. He holds several professional qualifications including being a Chartered Engineer with the United Kingdom Engineering Council, a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries and Administrators and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport. He also holds three IATA Diplomas in Safety Management Systems for Airlines, Airline Operations and Cost Management Systems. Group Captain Elijah Chingosho worked for 13 years for the Air Force of Zimbabwe where on leaving he was the Director of Engineering, and then he became General Manager Engineering for Air Zimbabwe for about 3 years. Elijah joined AFRAA in November 2001. Elijah has authored four books including Elementary Aircraft Propulsion in 1989 and African Airlines in the Era of Liberalisation in 2005 (second edition 2009), Strategic Management, Text and Cases and General Management (2007).
Participating Talks and Sessions
Adel Ali
CEO, Air Arabia
Adel A. Ali is well known for being at the forefront of the development of modern aviation. His innovative achievements and contribution to air transport and tourism sector in the wider Arab world are globally recognised. He managed to transform Arab aviation in October 2003 when he set up Air Arabia, the Middle East and North Africa’s first low-cost carrier (LCC), opening up a market niche in the region whose existence few had suspected.
The pioneering aviator drove Air Arabia’s growth in the next eleven years into the largest low cost carrier in the MENA region, as well as the first publicly owned airline in the Arab World and it’s largest by market value. Drawing on his 28 years of experience with industry leaders such as Gulf Air and British Airways, Adel has also been able to guide Air Arabia to become amongst the world’s best run Low Cost Carriers, delivering a profit for eight years in succession.
Under the leadership of Adel, Air Arabia’s business model has gone from strength-to-strength, enabling it to expand operations, enter new ventures and diversify into new revenue streams. Today, the Group holds a portfolio of successful businesses and projects, offering travel, tourism and hospitality services across the globe.
In addition to being the Group Chief Executive Officer of Air Arabia, Adel is also the chairman of Sharjah Information Systems Associates, Alpha Sharjah catering, Alpha Aviation Academy and Cozmo Travel. A board member of Sharjah Aviation Services; Adel also sits on the board of Air Arabia (Maroc), based in Casablanca’s Mohamed V International Airport and Air Arabia (Egypt), based in Alexandria’s Burj Al Arab International Airport.
Since 2007 and for five consecutive years, Adel has been awarded ‘Airline CEO of the year’ by various industry forums. He was named ‘World’s best Low Cost Carrier CEO’ during the World LCC Congress in 2008. He entered the “Hall of Fame Award” in 2010, honoring his contribution to the Middle East Aviation. In 2011, Adel was named “Business Leader of the Year” at the Middle East Accountancy and Finance Excellence Awards as recognition for establishing Air Arabia as the region’s number one low-cost carrier. Also, in September 2012, during the third year of CEO Middle East Awards, Adel Ali was named “CEO of the Year – Aviation”. Hosted by CEO Middle East, an ITP group publication, “CEO Middle East Awards” recognise and reward outstanding success, innovation and ethics. Finally, in July 2014, Adel Ali won the “Airline Business Award” at the esteemed Airline Strategy Awards 2014. Ali received the Award in recognition of Air Arabia’s commitment to offer high-quality, low-cost travel solutions to passengers in the Arab world and beyond.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Mohamed Yousif Al Binfalah
CEO, Bahrain Airport Company
Mohamed Yousif Al Binfalah is a Bahraini national with over 12 years of experience in the aviation industry. In his current capacity as CEO of Bahrain Airport Company (BAC), Mohamed is responsible for overseeing the overall management of BAC and steering the Company’s performance to achieve its target objectives.
Mohamed brings with him a wealth of knowledge in the general aviation sector and was previously the General Manager of DHL Aviation Service WLL for over 8 years, based at the Bahrain International Airport.
A high achiever with a proven track record of success accumulated over his 27 year career, Mohamed has extensive experience and a solid understanding of the facility management industry which he acquired during his work at Gulf Petrochemicals Company BSC (c) as well as through his role as Founder and CEO of Olive Facility Management Company.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of South Wales, formerly known as the University of Glamorgan.
An active member of the community, Mohamed’s interests extend to sporting initiatives and he previously held the position of Director for both the Tennis Federation of Bahrain and the Muharraq Club for multiple years.
Mohamed is married and has three children.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Fernando Estrada
Chief Strategy Officer, Vueling
Fernando Estrada currently works as Chief Strategy Officer for Vueling Airlines. Prior to this he held responsibilities in network planning, airport planning and slots at Vueling Airlines and led the team responsible of the merger between Vueling and clickair where he enrolled in 2007.
Before working for the airline industry, Fernando made a full range of strategy consulting work for 7 years in more than 8 countries.
Fernando has a BS degree in Telecommunication Engineering and a Master at IESE Business School.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Richard Bodin
Chief Commercial Officer, Fastjet
One of the co founders of fastjet, Richards broad role encompasses Sales, Marketing, Distribution, Product, Yield management, Network development and Ancillary Revenue.
Richard has spent his working life in travel and tourism. After working 10 years overseas for the UK tour operator First Choice, he returned to the UK to complete an MBA. He then joined easyJet in its early years assisting in its growth from a pre AOC, wet lease operator to one that had over 35 B737’s flying an extensive route map across Europe. After easyJet, Richard has led the launch of another Low Cost Airline called Jet2.com in the UK, conceived and launched a brand new UK Tour Operator called Jet2holidays, and carried out a turnaround project for the Virgin Travel Group, launched easyJet holidays and an Online Travel Agent
Participating Talks and Sessions
Imed Ben Abdallah
Head of Airline Marketing - Middle East & Africa, Bombardier Aerospace
Imed Ben Abdallah has over 15 years Airline experience across North America and Middle East. He is currently Regional Manager of Airline Marketing for Middle East and Africa based in Dubai for Bombardier.
Imed is a regular contributor to Routes with his prior role in Etihad Airways as Head of Network Planning during the last 7 years. Prior to that, he occupied multiple roles in Sabre Airline Solutions, Delta Airlines, and Gulf Air in Bahrain. His credentials include a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from Ecole Centrale Paris in France.
Participating Talks and Sessions
John Grant
Executive Vice President, OAG
John is responsible the management and enhancement of OAG’s product portfolio and new product development which includes OAG’s Flight Schedules database, Flight Status and its rapidly evolving analytical products, the OAGs Analyser Suite.
Previously, John served as Managing Director of ASM, a leading consultancy specialising in air service development for airports. During his tenure there he achieved a number of successes for the company and its clients, including the successful re-positioning of Kuala Lumpur as Asia’s major low cost airline network centre and the expansion and development of Lima Airport into a major hub facility in South America. Whilst under John’s leadership, ASM was twice voted the best consultancy by the UK Airport Operators Association.
John has worked for a range of airlines and airports around the world in areas including finance, marketing and commercial management. He worked at British Caledonian, on the development of its Middle East network, and at Air UK and KLM, where he managed commercial operations and led the rebranding of Air UK before moving to ASM.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Michael Miller
Head of Content & Industry Relations, Routes, UBM EMEA
Michael Miller is Head of Content and Industry Relations for Routes, which is part of the Transport and Technology division of UBM; a leading global event marketing and communications services business. Mike leads the creation and development of Routes conferences at events worldwide, and is responsible for relations with aviation, travel and other industry groups.
Mike has 25 years experience in the aviation industry as both a journalist and consultant prior to joining the Routes team in 2014. He has managed nine aviation publications, mostly under the Aviation Week banner at McGraw-Hill, and has had aviation clients in Europe, North and South America, and Asia. Clients have included Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, US Airways, JetBlue Airways, Bombardier, ALTA and the government of France. He oversaw the creation of the ALTA Airline Leaders Forum. Michael also was Vice President, Strategy, at the American Aviation Institute and President of Miller Air Group. He has been interviewed several hundred times on aviation issues by CNN, BBC, CNBC, NBC, Al Jazeeera and others. He is based in Orlando, Florida.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Khalil Lamrabet
Director of Aviation Business Development, Dubai Airports
Khalil Lamrabet currently holds the position of Director of Aviation Business Development at Dubai Airports, responsible of airline marketing, routes development and airline relationship management for both Dubai International and Al Maktoum International airports.
He joined Dubai Airports in 2010, and assumed different roles and responsibilities in market development and business development areas including forecasting, strategic planning and customer liaison.
Prior to joining the airport industry, he held responsibilities in Network Planning with Emirates Airlines and was part of the Sales and Marketing team of Bombardier Aerospace covering sales campaigns in Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa.
Khalil holds a Bachelor of Engineering from Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal and a Master in Aerospace Engineering from McGill university.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Raul Villaron
Market Manager, Embraer
Mr. Raul Villaron has more than 10 years of experience in the airline industry. Airline strategies, fleet & network planning are among his main expertise, which he acquired along 8 years working at Embraer Commercial Aircraft Sales for airlines in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Latin America.
Over those years, Mr. Raul Villaron has worked closely with airlines to support their fleet and network development as well as to help start-up airlines to build their business planning.
He is also responsible for the prospecting activities in the region, showing Embraer view of the market and how the E-Jets fit to the each airline business models.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Aidan Mooney
Vice President,Consulting, ASM
Aidan has almost 25 years’ experience in the aviation industry, before joining ASM in 2013 Aidan was Director of Aviation Development with the Manchester Airports Group (MAG), owners and operators at that time of Manchester Airport, East Midlands Airport and Bournemouth Airport. His passion for the aviation industry and his business skills provides the balanced and informed insight that enables commercial opportunities to be clearly understood and developed between the airport operator and airline.
Aidan has extensive experience is forecasting, budget planning, negotiation and management reporting, and is a well-established figure with both the world’s airlines and airport communities across the industry.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Terence Delomoney
General Manager, King Shaka International Airport, Airports Company South Africa (ACSA)
Terence L. Delomoney is the appointed General Manager of King Shaka International Airport; Airports Company South Africa. He was born and educated in Durban, Kwa-Zulu Natal. Terence is a Charted Accountant by profession and obtained his Post-Graduate Degree in Accounting from the University of Durban Westville in 1989 and obtained entrance to the Chartered Accountants Board in 1990.
Terence has been with Airports Company South Africa since January 2000 and was appointed in the role of Regional General Manager at the now decommissioned Durban International Airport on the 1st of August 2008. During his tenure, Terence headed up several strategic portfolios: Finance and Commercial at Durban International Airport; Support Services: Commercial, Projects, Engineering and IT also for Durban International Airport. He was promoted to Assistant General Manager: Support Services for Durban International and National Airports and then to Regional General Manager: Durban International and National Airports. The ACSA National Airports structure (consisting of seven (7) airports) was included in the Durban / King Shaka International Airport management structure from 2005 until 2011.
Major infrastructure development projects at the national airports have been completed under Terence’s leadership; these consisted of terminal upgrades; bulk infrastructure upgrades and pavement rehabilitations inclusive of runways; aprons and public parking’s; several commercial developments were successfully concluded. He and his team have made a concerted effort to turn some of these non-profit airports into profit-making facilities.
The building of the Greenfields Kings Shaka International Airport and the successful relocation of the old Durban International Airport was done under his guidance and leadership in 2010.
Terence is an Executive member of Airports Company South Africa. He served as the Chairman of the Socio and Enterprise Development Committee of the Company; he further holds a seat as an Executive Board member on the La Mercy Joint Venture Company Board (since 2010); the Ilembe Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Tourism Board (since 2010) and the Board of Tourism Kwa-Zulu Natal (since 2014); Terence’s is further an active member of the Kwa-Zulu Natal World Routes Development Steering Committee.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Prince Chintimbwe
Director, Airport Services, National Airports Corporation Ltd
Prince is a former banker whose last position in the sector, before joining the aviation world, was that of Deputy Head of Operations-Performance with Barclays Bank Zambia. He is a holder of an MBA degree from Heriot-Watt University (Edinburgh Business School). Other qualifications are those of a BA degree in Public Administration & Economics, Project Management & Risk Management in Financial Institutions.
His current role is that of Director Airport Services at National Airports Corporation Limited. National Airports Corporation Limited is responsible of running the four international airports in Zambia, vis-à-vis, Kenneth Kaunda, Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe, Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula and Mfuwe.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Sabine Reim
Vice President, Airline Network Strategy, InterVISTAS Consulting
Sabine leads InterVISTAS’ Air Service Development Practice and works with airport clients worldwide to develop their air access, including Africa. She specializes in air service network strategies and route development for airports.
Prior to joining InterVISTAS, Sabine spent 17 years with British Airways. Her career with the airline included positions in Strategy, Customer Services, Revenue Management, and Network Development. She led the network development of British Airways’ African, Middle Eastern, and Central Asian routes and managed route development and airline-airport relationships on British Airways’ transatlantic network. She has a proven track record and first-hand experience setting up new air service from visualization through to implementation.
Sabine holds a PhD in Economics and Business from the University of Reading, an MSc in International Business from The University of London, and a BA (Hons) in Travel and Tourism Management from Newcastle Business School. She resides in London, United Kingdom.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Karikoga Kaseke
Chief Executive Officer, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority
Mr Kaseke started his career in the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (Military Intelligence Branch) as a Military Intelligent Officer from 1981 to 1983. He then moved to the School of Military Intelligence and became a Training Officer from 1983 to 1987. He moved to be a General Staff Officer at the Defence Counter Intelligence from 1987 to 1991. Mr Kaseke left the Defence Forces (MI Branch) in 1991 on secondment to the Department of Civil Aviation on the request of the Public Service Commission.
At the Department of Civil Aviation he held the position of Chief of Aviation Security from 1991 to 1993 and was promoted to Airport Manager of the Harare International Airport from 1993 to 1998. Mr Kaseke was the driving force behind the completion of the Harare International Airport and other National Airport Development Programmes. When the Department of Civil Aviation became the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe he was promoted to Director of Airports and Business Development a position he held until 2001 when he was promoted to Chief Executive a position he held until 2004.
Mr Karikoga Kaseke was then appointed Chief Executive of the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority in July 2005, a position he holds to date. During the first year of his appointment he made a great impact and demonstrated excellent leadership qualities for the country’s tourist board and the tourism sector at large.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Oliver Clark
Senior Reporter, Flightglobal
Oliver Clark joined Flightglobal in June 2013 as a senior reporter covering commercial aviation, route development, airline strategy and airports.
He specialises in the aviation markets of Spain, Italy, Greece and Scandinavia, covering such events as the restructuring of Alitalia and the equity partnership with Etihad, the merger of Greek carriers Aegean Airlines and Olympic Air and the ongoing turnaround programme at Spanish flag carrier Iberia.
Oliver also covers airlines and airports in Sub-Saharan Africa and has interviewed Tewolde Gebremariam, chief executive of Ethiopian Airlines, Adrian Hamilton-Manns, group chief executive of FlyAfrica and Dr Michael Arumemi-Ikhide of Arik Air.
He regularly contributes to Flightglobal’s print and online titles including Airline Business and Flight International.
Prior to joining Flightglobal, Oliver was Editor of Routes News - the official publication of the World Route Development Forum and the regional Routes events, Deputy Editor of Airport World and a contributor to Airline Fleet Management magazine.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Mohamed Khonji
Regional Director, Middle East Office, ICAO
Mr. Mohamed Khonji is from the Kingdom of Bahrain. He joined Bahrain Civil Aviation Affairs (CAA) and worked in Air Traffic Services (ATS) since 1970, was a fully licensed Air Traffic Controller in all Air Traffic Services (ATS) positions. He has experience in planning, implementation and coordination in various fields of Air Navigation and matters related to Civil Aviation; he was part of the CNS/ATM project team in the Bahrain CAA.
Having good technical/aviation background, he attended many management courses, gained knowledge and experience in management. Mr. Khonji has a Masters degree in Business Administration (MBA).
In November 1994, was elected as the First Chairperson of Middle East Air Navigation Planning and Implementation Regional Group known as MIDANPIRG, and served the Group until joining ICAO on 5 May 1998 as the Deputy Regional Director for the Middle East Region in ICAO Regional Office in Cairo, Egypt. On 1st January 2005, Mr. Khonji was appointed the Regional Director for the ICAO Middle East Office a post that he is serving until this date.
Finally, Mr. Khonji has a vision and a challenge that he is determined to accomplish as the ICAO Regional Director for the Middle East Region “to see the Middle East Region in the forefront in Safety, Air Navigation, Security and Sustainable development of Civil Aviation”.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Paul Byrne
CEO, flynas
Paul Byrne is the CEO of flynas, a position he took up in November 2014 following a three month term as Commercial Advisor to the airline.
With a career spanning more than 35 years in the aviation industry, starting with Aer Lingus in 1979, Paul brings a wealth of wide-ranging experience to flynas, focused mainly on private consultancy in both the emerging low cost and full service airline sectors.
Prior to acting as Commercial Advisor to flynas, Paul undertook short training assignments in Jeju Air Seoul South Korea and Precision Air in Tanzania. Before that he worked with the RM Team at Pegasus Airlines in Istanbul, Turkey, where through the use of a more analytical approach the team is now delivering increased revenues and consistently excellent results.
Previously Paul completed two terms working with Airphil Express (now PAL) in Manila, Philippines, where the focus is on delivering stronger more sustainable results. His contribution to Airphil’s success led to enhanced and more professional RM practices in the current Philippines Airlines (PAL).
From April 2010 to May 2011, Paul worked as coach to the newly installed RM team at VIVA Aerobus in Monterrey, Mexico, achieving record levels of sales and yield. In this period there was also a brief training assignment with Webjet of Brazil to enable the RM team make the transition to the LCC model.
Other assignments include Aero Contractors of Nigeria, where from March 2009 to April 2010 he led a team that developed revenue management, online sales, ancillary sales and onboard sales. From June to December 2007, Paul worked with Mandala Airlines in Jakarta Indonesia and prior to that with Air Deccan where the company went from 3% to 22% market share of the Domestic India market and ultimate takeover by Kingfisher Airlines.
At the start of his aviation career with Aer Lingus, Paul held a large number of roles ranging from the cargo and passenger revenue accounts departments to interline billing and revenue management departments.
Educated at Chanel College, Coolock, Dubin, Ireland, Paul holds an MBA from the Open University. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Independent Business International (IIBI) and was its first Chairman in Ireland
Participating Talks and Sessions
Solomon Dube
Director General, Swaziland Civil Aviation Authority
Mr Solomon Dube is the Director General of the Swaziland Civil Aviation Authority. He was assigned to the Project Millennium Unit of the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development of the Kingdom of Swaziland, a unit that had been established to spearhead infrastructural development in the Kingdom; the new King Mswati III International Airport among others.
When the CAA was formed in 2009, Mr Dube became the Director General. He has built the organisation focusing particularly on skills development. Under his leadership and tireless effort, the Kingdom of Swaziland has since been removed from the European Union list of states considered unsafe for air travel and has seen air traffic growth of more than 120%. Mr Dube has a Master of Engineering degree in Airport Planning from the University of Loughborough in the United Kingdom.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Karl Dandler
CEO, Kosice International Airport
Karl Dandler is the Chief Executive Officer of Kosice International Airport
He studied at the University of Economy in Vienna.
He started his career as Head of Controlling at Austrian Airlines , then moved on to become Deputy President at Ukraine International Airlines before moving on to Vienna Airport and Kosice International Airport.
He is married with 2 children
Participating Talks and Sessions
Gordon Stewart
Chief Support Services Office, Bahrain Airport Company
As the Chief Support Services Officer at Bahrain Airport Company, Gordon Stewart is responsible to lead and direct the Finance, Human Resource, Information Communications Technology and Procurement Divisions of the company.
Gordon’s role involves ensuring the required resources are in place within BAC; financial, human and information technology to enable the company to achieve its vision and corporate objectives. It further involves working hard to improve and modernise the working practices and management of the business.
Previously in BAC Gordon held the position of VP Strategy Implementation and Business Improvement. Before joining BAC, Gordon owned and managed Pragmatique, a Management Consultancy where his last assignment was at Edinburgh Airport. Prior to this he held the position of Director for Project and Risk Management at the Canadian multinational, Bombardier. Previous to this Gordon’s career spanned both Compaq and IBM.
Amongst his academic accomplishments, Gordon earned an MBA degree with distinction at Strathclyde University in the UK and obtained a BEng (Hons) degree in Industrial Engineering.
Outside of work Gordon is a family man, married with three daughters. In addition to his many hobbies Gordon likes to play golf, vacation in Scotland and Canada and is an avid Formula1 fan.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Gilles Darriau
CEO, Abidjan International Airport (AERIA)
A Master in Airport Management graduate of the National Civil Aviation School (ENAC) in Toulouse (France) and a Master Degree in Economic Sciences, Gilles DARRIAU is the CEO of AERIA, the company managing the Felix Houphouët Boigny International Airport of Abidjan.
Gilles DARRIAU first spent 15 years in AUCHAN French distribution group.
He decided then to switch to Airport management and worked over 20 years in companies specialized in managing french regional airport via public service delegation. In 2012, he joined EGIS Group, whose AERIA subsidiary is contract-holder for Abidjan FHB International Airport management.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Achim Baumann
Regional Director, Safety & Flight Operations, Middle East & North Africa, IATA
As aeronautical engineer and business school graduate Achim Baumann started his working career in 1986 as officer in the German Air force before he took the place of Deputy Director at Quality Management Certification Organization in 1995.
In 1997 Achim joined DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung as Consultant and worked on several international projects before being posted as quality and interface manager at the New Athens International Airport. After finishing this appointment in 2001 Achim headed international projects dealing with all areas of ATM. This included operational issues as well as ATM/CNS and research projects for the European Commission. He got introduced to the MENA Region as Regional Manager for DFS in 2005 working with ANSPs, Regulators, airports, airlines and organizations.
This work finally brought him to join IATA as Director Safety and Flight Operations in the Middle East and North Africa Region in July 2011. Being based in Amman, Jordan, Achim works closely with the airlines to improve safety and efficiency in the aviation industry in the MENA Region. Furthermore he represents airline interests towards organisations like ICAO, CANSO, Air Navigation Service providers and Airports.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Gerard Brown
Head of Future Hosting, Routes, UBM EMEA
Gerard is a senior commercial professional with over 20 years experience working in leading global travel and tourism industry organisations and developing new revenue streams. For the past 8 years he has been working in senior management positions for UBM Routes – the award winning and globally renowned networking forums and events where the world’s airlines, airports and tourism authorities meet in order to shape the world’s future air networks.
As air services to a city and region are a major catalyst of economic development and growth, Routes events offer a host city a unique opportunity to showcase their market to the people that decide where and when the world’s airlines and tour operators are going to fly. In his current role as Head of Future Events, Gerard oversees the international host partnerships for all 7 of the annual Routes events in the current portfolio: World Routes; Routes Europe; Routes Asia; Routes Americas; Routes Africa; Routes CIS and Routes MENA. This includes both business and tourism development as well as nurturing hosting opportunities with cities all over the world; overseeing the management of the bidding processes; the host partner relationships; the negotiation of contractual agreements and complex host support packages.
Having worked in Senior Management positions for Thomas Cook Group, MyTravel PLC, TUI Travel PLC and Kuoni PLC, Gerard has significant experience in the global tourism development field and as such he also continues to play a wider key role in the UBM Group’s future business planning, strategy and new product development within the Travel and Events Industry. Passionate about travel and the global travel industry, Gerard regularly writes articles for industry publications within the tourism sector and is an enthusiastic, knowledgeable and passionate speaker at several industry events throughout the year.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Paul Rayson
Director of Supplier Relations, Flightglobal
Paul Rayson Director of Supplier Relations - Flight Global, part of Reed Business Information (RBI) a Division of RELX Group a world - leading provider of information solutions for professional customers across industries. Flightglobal brands now include Innovata and Ascend at the core of its data business.
As a member of the Flightglobal Executive Team Paul is responsible for the key data inputs and the relationships required to secure them across Airlines and other key sources in the Travel market, OEM and MRO in the Aerospace market, as well as Government bodies, standards agencies and other important Industry bodies and Associations.
With over 25 years commercial experience in the information industry across leadership roles in sales, marketing, consulting, product development and operations covering a number of sectors Paul re-joined RBI in October 2014. His career around the Travel and Aviation market has included two spells with OAG, initially leading the EMEA sales then returning as a board member to manage the Global Airline Sales operation.
Paul has also been involved in the logistics and cargo sector spending time as UK Marketing Director at MSAS Cargo International, now a key part of DHL
Prior to Flightglobal’s acquisition of the Ascend business Paul had served as Managing Director of the Information and Consultancy Business that was then operating as Airclaims. Most recently Paul has had Commercial leadership roles in various parts of IHS including Jane’s the Defence and Aerospace Business.
Paul started his career with British Aerospace in the as a Commercial graduate moving in to their Marketing group before embarking on a career around information and insight.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Aloke Singh
Chief Officer, Network Planning, Oman Air
Aloke Singh heads up the Network Planning and Revenue Management Department at Oman Air, having joined the airline as it kicked-off its fleet and route expansion programme last year. The airline’s newly restructured, rapidly growing network now covers 48 stations across Europe, South and South East Asia, the Gulf region, the Middle East and Africa with 4 being added in the past few months.
Aloke brings over two decades of varied airline experience in the Planning and Commercial domain. Previously, he was with Air India where he headed various roles including Strategy and Planning, Revenue Management, and FFP. He also did a stint with a regional subsidiary, heading the commercial function.
Participating Talks and Sessions
Stephanie Wear
Director of Economic Development, Tenerife Tourism
Stephanie Wear is the Director of Economic Development of the Tenerife Tourism Corporation since 2012. Under her purview, she is responsible for air service development and attracting foreign direct investment to the island as well as promoting Tenerife as a leisure destination. The top priority of her department is to work with airports, airlines and corporations to create business opportunities on the island and increase the number of tourists that visit Tenerife.
Before her job at the Tenerife Tourism Corporation, she worked in the Foreign Trade Department of the Chamber of Commerce of Santa Cruz de Tenerife where she specialized in International Procurement and European Union projects. During that time, she was named as one of three Private Sector Liaison Officers (PSLO) of the World Bank in Spain. Previous to that position she had her own import company in the United States.
Born in Washington DC, Stephanie lived most of her life in the US before moving to Tenerife, Spain, eight years ago. Her dual nationality and cross-cultural background has been the main motivator for her line of work.