Tag Archives: Chief Commercial Officer

Airbnb has entered into a partnership with Jet Airways. This is the first Indian airline that Airbnb has signed an agreement with. With this move, Airbnb is strengthening its footprint in the Indian market and establishing a deeper connect with the new age Indian travellers who seek unique travel experiences. Promoting this partnership, Jet Airways and Airbnb are running contests on their websites as well. Amanpreet Bajaj, Country Manager – India, Airbnb said, “Airbnb’s philosophy is centered on providing unique experiences to modern day travellers, who seek newer and more interesting ways to travel. Indian travellers have become more decisive and are keen to break away from conventional means of travel and accommodation. Airbnb has been committed to building local partnerships which enable us to strengthen our connect with the Indian audience. With this partnership, Jet Airways fliers who are also Airbnb travellers will be able to enjoy the added-value they receive from being associated with two dynamic brands.” Jayaraj Shanmugam, Chief Commercial Officer, Jet Airways said, “An increasing number of Indian travellers are embracing the fresh and highly personalised experiences that a platform like Airbnb offers. Our focus on being innovative and offering differentiated travel experiences enables us to anticipate the changing needs of our guests and recognize trends much earlier than the market, thus allowing us to offer exciting travel related initiatives. We are delighted to be the first Indian airline to partner Airbnb, and look forward to creating more of such innovative experiences for our guests.”

Sandeep Dwivedi has been elevated to the post of Chief Operating Officer (COO) at InterGlobe Technology Quotient (ITQ) to lead the overall responsibility of ITQ’s growing operations including strategic business development and implementing growth strategies. Having previously led the position as Chief Commercial Officer at ITQ and served in InterGlobe Group of companies in different capacities, he has demonstrated spectacular leadership competency with company’s growth in the market. With over 25 years in executive management and business supervisory roles, he spearheads commercial strategy and business growth in the organisation.

Effective October 29, 2017, and as part of the airline’s forthcoming Winter schedule, the new daytime service – 9W 116 will depart from Mumbai at 0905 hrs.to arrive in London Heathrow at 1335 hrs. (Local time). On its return, the planned departure for 9W 115 from London Heathrow is at 1530 hrs. (local time), arriving in Mumbai at 0555 hrs., giving guests a head start to their day in India’s economic capital. Air travel between India and the United Kingdom has shown a steady annual growth of nearly 10 percent over the last few years. The new flight will boost Jet Airways’ passenger and cargo capacity between India and the United Kingdom by almost 33 percent, allowing the airline to capitalise on the growing round-the-year demand being witnessed from EU and non-EU countries to India and other emerging economies, on the back of fast expanding relationships in the areas of trade, commerce, tourism, culture, and, education. The third frequency enhances onward connectivity over London Heathrow to North America with partners Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic. Jet Airways will now offer improved connection time and 13 destinations over London Heathrow to North America including Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, Newark, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Salt Lake City and Washington (Virginia). Jayaraj Shanmugam, Chief Commercial Officer, Jet Airways, said, “Jet Airways is delighted to offer a third non-stop service between Mumbai and London Heathrow. The new frequency will enable us to offer our guests seamless connectivity, choice and convenience with partners Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic over London Heathrow with a single baggage drop and through check-in. Our world-class experience together with our signature Indian hospitality, …

Dubai-based airline, flydubai, has launched its new holidays division titled ‘Holidays by flydubai’ which will become its tour operating arm. It aims to simplify travel by providing customers with the choice to customise packages including flights, hotels and other ancillary services such as airport transfers, sightseeing packages, car rental and more. “Holidays by flydubai will represent a new milestone in flydubai’s journey as we enter a more mature phase of our operation,” said Hamad Obaidalla, Chief Commercial Officer at flydubai. “We continue to challenge the conventions of travel in the region and exceed our customers’ expectations. Holidays by flydubai will enhance the overall travel experience as we give customers the freedom to design their own holiday in one convenient place.” As part of the offering, a new online portal for Holidays by flydubai, will allow customers to browse, book and pay for flights, accommodation and services all within a single booking process. The portal will also allow travel agents, distributors and flydubai-authorised travel shops to design and book tailor-made packages. Around the clock sales support will be another feature available to customers. Nelson D’souza, Vice President-Holidays, said, “By combining internally sourced wholesale hotel rates and rates provided by third parties along with our competitive airfares, Holidays by flydubai will aim to provide affordable packages making travel more accessible to more people. We will work closely with travel trade experts to ensure the customer interface and the functionality of this portal is user-friendly, enjoyable and reliable.” Holidays by flydubai will offer holiday packages around the flydubai network including popular destinations such as: Azerbaijan, Czech Republic, Egypt, Georgia, India, Maldives, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey and the UAE.

IndiGo has announced its first non-stop flight and 5th overall flight between Singapore and Bengaluru, which will start from June 30, 2017. The launch of the daily direct flight would offer an affordable and a convenient option on two of the busiest business sectors. Sanjay Kumar, Chief Commercial Officer, IndiGo, said, “Both Singapore and Bengaluru are strong business and tourism hubs and attract significant passenger traffic.  It gives us pleasure to introduce a direct flight on Singapore-Bengaluru route which will save flyers upto three hours of travel each way. We have been witnessing an encouraging traffic to Singapore from the cities in the south of India. There is a large Indian diaspora that resides in Singapore and regularly travels to their home to connect with their heritage and loved ones. Increased to and fro flights will not only boost tourism but also provide an affordable fare and a superior travel experience to flyers.”

Jet Airways will add 42 weekly flights connecting three new city pairs as part of strengthening its domestic network to meet growing demand between metros and emerging cities. Introduction of additional frequencies and wide-body deployments between key metros will also boost capacity on existing sectors this summer as the airline bolsters its already extensive network to meet an expected surge in demand during the holiday season. The carrier will commence operations between Nagpur and New Delhi, Lucknow and Kolkata, and Kozhikode and Bengaluru as part of its broader strategy of connecting India’s emerging tier II cities with India’s metros via direct flights. It will also introduce additional frequencies on the highly traveled Delhi – Amritsar and Mumbai – Kolkata sectors and boost capacity on the New Delhi – Bengaluru and New Delhi – Bhopal routes with the introduction of the wide-body Airbus A330 and Boeing 737 services, respectively. The changes are a part of Jet Airways’ summer schedule which will see the airline operate upto 650 flights per day connecting 65 destinations in India and abroad. Jayaraj Shanmugam, Chief Commercial Officer, Jet Airways, said, “Our summer schedule has been meticulously planned to meet the expected surge in demand over the holidays. New flights, additional frequencies, greater capacity including the introduction of wide-body services across more sectors are meant to offer our discerning guests greater choice, convenience, connectivity and added comfort.”

Jet Airways and Virgin Atlantic have announced a further expansion of their codeshare agreement between India and the United States, which will make it even easier for guests to tailor their trip by combining flights from Jet Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Delta Air Lines in a single booking. From April 19, 2017, Jet Airways guests travelling between India and the United States can connect through London Heathrow on to nine US destinations operated by Virgin Atlantic; Atlanta, Boston, Newark, Washington (IAD), New York, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco and Seattle. This expansion builds on the existing agreement between Jet Airways and Virgin Atlantic in place since 2009 – enabling Virgin Atlantic guests to travel on Jet Airways operated services between Mumbai and London Heathrow in addition to the airline’s own direct Delhi to London service. In 2015, this codeshare was extended on to Jet Airways domestic services allowing Virgin Atlantic guests to travel between London Heathrow and five destinations across India via Delhi or Mumbai. Gaurang Shetty, Whole-time Director, Jet Airways, said, “Offering greater choice and connectivity to our guests has always been a hallmark of our network strategy. The new codeshares build on the success of our ongoing cooperation with Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic over London Heathrow and will provide our guests with more connectivity to and within the United States. Further, our loyalty program partnership will also enable the frequent flyers of both carriers to accrue and redeem their miles across each other’s entire network.”

Jet Airways’ passengers can now buy tickets online using the industry’s latest payment mechanism – Unified Payments Interface (UPI). The new system allows funds to be transferred instantaneously between any two bank accounts, using a smartphone. UPI becomes the airline’s 21st digital payment option and Jet becomes the only Indian airline to offer this payment solution. “We are continuously exploring ways to embed technology by way of smarter solutions to provide value to the connected traveller. Our latest payment interface – Unified Payments Interface (UPI), backed by leading banks – is yet another smart solution that is simple, convenient and secure,” said Jayaraj Shanmugam, Chief Commercial Officer, Jet Airways. Guests booking via Jet’s website or mobile apps can now opt for the ‘UPI payment option’ during the booking process, in order to transact via a Virtual Payment Address linked to their bank account. This means that customers don’t need to enter their bank details online.

Jayaraj Shanmugam takes over as the new Chief Commercial Officer of Jet Airways. Since joining Jet Airways’ in mid-2015 and as Sr. Vice President of Products & Services, Shanmugam has been instrumental in sharpening the organization’s focus towards delivering superior guest engagement experience together with a host of outstanding, innovative initiatives. He will now be responsible for leading Jet Airways’ commercial teams to maximize revenue streams and use its market reach, people capabilities and brand appeal to accelerate the airline’s reputation for service excellence and efficiency. Specifically, his responsibilities will cover areas of product enhancement, guest services, passenger and cargo sales, marketing as well as corporate communications. He will also oversee other critical functions such as airport and in-flight services, catering, revenue management, cabin crew and e-commerce.

Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB) has announced the appointment of Arved von zur Muehlen as Chief Commercial Officer effective from 5 September, 2016. Announcing the appointment, MAB’s Chief Executive Officer Peter Bellew said, “On behalf of the management team, I am very pleased to welcome Muehlen to the Malaysia Airlines family. He will focus on developing a comprehensive and sustainable plan to improve Malaysia Airlines’ marketing, sales, products and customer service. He brings with him over 20 years of professional experience in the aviation industry and will add a valuable breadth of understanding across sales, marketing and technological innovation. Muehlen will play a crucial role in the next phase of the turnaround, focusing on restoring our position as a leading international carrier and developing our innovative customer centric services. He is a welcome addition to the team as we move forward with our global marketing strategy to increase sales and promote the wonders of Malaysia.” Prior to his appointment, Muehlen was the Senior Vice President of Commercial Network Operations for Qatar Airways, responsible for global sales strategy and development as well as innovation and technology with a revenue target of more than USD7 billion. Whilst there he managed the roll-out of several successful projects, including the implementation of a new internet sales platform and booking engine. Before that he spent four years with Swiss International Airlines as Vice President Sales International where he was responsible, amongst other things, for sales and marketing across 18 online markets. Muehlen also spent over 15 years with Lufthansa Airlines covering a wide breadth of portfolios in revenue management, sales and marketing and left the airline as Managing Director of Greater China. Muehlen takes over from …