http://www.travelbusinessanalyst.com/

Travel Business Analyst, GPO Box 12761, Hong Kong (2026)

22/03/2024

ZERO - the travel business and the environment
See https://wp.me/pTv9-KF

Includes:
Electric cruise ship
Cruise greenwashing
Six Senses energy positive
Beyond Green
Regal Hotels
Climate Action
Destination 2030
Mediterranean CO2 emissions
Cleaner air-Airbus/Delta/Fly Zero/SAF/Sun-to-fuel

03/07/2022

FOXTROTS*
TBA Tracking: June travel stocks; arrgghh! See https://wp.me/pTv9-yx

Excerpts:
-Oh dear. Stunning collapse, particularly in the US, but stunning growth in China.
-So much bad news that it is hard to know where to start. The US is -30% this year; wasn’t this recovery year? AsPac -8%, Europe -14%.
-World (travel-related stocks), last month: -7%. Previous month: -3%. Last month, compared with end-2019: -5%.

30/06/2022

An excerpt from our monthly PinT (People-in-Travel) report. As this is a subscription report, the following items are not from the current edition.

[] David Lisnard, mayor of Cannes, has been re-elected head of the DMO (destination marketing organisation) for CDA* - CRT by its French initials. Lisnard has already served six years but this was marked by the July 2016 terrorist attack.
*Notes: CDA = Cote d’Azur in France - a ‘brandname’ also known as the South of France, the French Riviera, or sometimes by the names of some of its main cities, Cannes, Monaco/Monte Carlo, Nice, St Tropez. The problem is brand identity; knowing what is meant by CDA.

[] Akbar Al Baker CEO of Qatar Airways named chairman of the Oneworld airline association, an honorary post. He succeeds Alan Joyce, CEO of Qantas, who was there from September 2018.

[] Alitalia: same change.
Italy’s Alitalia is due to stop operating as an airline next month, to be replaced by ITA. Not yet clear is whether ITA will also get to use the ‘Alitalia’ name.
And that would make it even harder to see what has changed.
For instance, ITA’s CEO is Fabio Lazzerini. Yet he became CEO of the restructured ‘new’ Alitalia in late-2020. He had worked for Emirates in Italy 2013-7, and then became commercial director at Alitalia.
By end-year it should be clear if ITA-equals-Alitalia.

[] Sandy Benoiton has been named Acting CEO at Air Seychelles. He has been with the airline for 20 years, and COO since 2018.
He replaces Remco Althuis, appointed by the previous 40%-owner, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad. In April Etihad sold out to the Seychelles government, ending yet another of its disastrous equity-expansion into other airlines.

[] Christine Ourmieres-Widener is named CEO of Air Portugal. Qualified as an aeronautical engineer, she has worked with Air France in various posts including head of AF’s City Jet.
She became CEO of UK-based Flybe start-2017, but left in July 2019 - a year before it shut down. Air Portugal is also in financial difficulty, with the European Union investigating US$3.8bn (€3.2bn) of government support.

‘end

28/12/2021

An excerpt from our monthly People-in-Travel report. As this is a subscription report, the following items are not from the current edition.

(pic Mueller)
New head for France’s DMO
Philippe Kaspi has taken over from Yann Delaunay as head (secretary-general) of France’s DMO. Despite working in an English-language world, the DMO has an (obscure) name, Atout France*.
France is one of the many DMOs that do not require their DMO leaders to have any experience in the travel business - only in government, even though most of the work is with the private sector. That said, Kaspi did work in a government department related to the travel business over 2005-7.
He will also be a link to the government, although this would normally be part of the role of the director-general, who is Caroline Leboucher, appointed in 2019. She also has been primarily in government jobs.
*Notes:
-Despite that name (it means something similar to Advantage France), this is France’s DMO (destination marketing organisation). Its earlier name was the similarly-obtuse Maison de France - House of France. Best would be ‘Visit France’ or ‘France Tourism’.
-We interpret Kaspi’s role similar to ‘chairman’ and Leboucher’s ‘CEO’.

Briefs
[] European Cities Marketing has re-elected Petra Stusek as president for her 2nd 2-years. She is the CEO at the Ljubljana Tourism CMO.

[] PATA’s light face? PATA* names Surayyal Hizmi as ‘Face of the Future’ (FoF) 2021. She is a lecturer at Indonesia’s Lombok Tourism Polytechnic.
PATA itself devalues this post by giving no specific tasks for the FoF ‘winner’ (how it is described) - and never referring to previous incumbents, or what they achieved.
We add the two previous FoFs: Nepal’s Suresh Singh Budal, 2020; Guam’s Flori-Anne dela Cruz, 2019.
*Notes: PATA = Pacific Asia Travel Association, a regional promotional body.

[] Christoph Mueller named chairman of Swissport, an airport ground operator. Most recently it was owned by China’s trouble HNA Group, but then moved to financial administrators, who appointed Mueller.
He was six years as Aer Lingus CEO, then less than a troubled year as Malaysia Airlines CEO. He then moved to a managerial role at Emirates.

‘end

17/08/2021

An excerpt from our monthly People-in-Travel report. As this is a subscription report, the following items are not from the current edition.

New travel administrators
Three new leaders for administrators on three continents - PATA in Asia Pacific, government in the US, WTO in Europe.

[] PATA seeks new CEO.
Mario Hardy*, 70, CEO at PATA*, is leaving - although the timing seems flexible. When first announced 12 months ago, it was December 2020. Now it seems about April, although it was only last month // January that PATA said it was looking for a replacement. Perhaps he was going to stay on?
Hardy joined PATA in 2014 before becoming CEO that same year. His mandate was renewed for three years at start-2018 - which tallies with a Dec 20 departure.
For the new CEO, PATA is not unusual in overuse of superlatives. It notes (and we comment):
-‘We are grateful to have iconic leaders [who have] shaped the travel industry.’ Perhaps only one comes close to iconic - Alwin Zecha - but primarily because he moved PATA from San Francisco, sealing its change from a US body promoting travel to the Pacific area to an AsPac body. But Zecha certainly did not shape the travel industry, although we don’t know any one person who has.
-‘In line with a new and progressive governance model, we are seeking a CEO to build on our solid legacy and lead PATA into a future of dynamic growth and sustainability.’ We don’t know what this means. But presumably, ‘sustainability’ means environmental actions?
-‘[We seek] a proven leader with a strong passion to create an impact and make a difference.’ OK.
-‘This is the ideal opportunity for you to be a game changer.’ Again, we don’t know what is to be changed. However, PATA notes (above) that previously leaders have ‘shaped’ the industry. Isn’t this the same thing? Or are more changes are planned? What changes?
*Notes:
-PATA = Pacific Asia Travel Association, a Bangkok-based regional travel promotional body.
-Hardy, a Canadian national, has been 17 years in Asia. He is generally listed as ‘Dr Hardy’, but although he has a BSc, his doctorate is honorific - from Canada’s Capilano University for philanthropic work in Cambodia. He also once ran a website on coffee shops in Asia.
-PATA describes Hardy as an entrepreneur. He is not. Before PATA, he had a senior management position in UBM/OAG in Singapore, having worked with them 14 years. He started with People Express (PATA has not corrected its mistake - People’s Express - in the time Hardy has been there; in fact it was Peoplexpress), an early no-frills-airline. Hardy started there in 1985, actually the year PE made its fatal mistake by buying Frontier. He joined Canadian Airlines in 1987 after PE stopped flying; he was 12 years with CA.

[] US minister of transport.
Pete Buttigieg is the new Joe-Biden-administration’s US Department of Transportation Secretary – which would be ‘minister of transport’, including aviation, in most other countries.
He was mayor of South Bend, a small 100k-people town in the US, but became known nationwide as one of those seeking nomination to be the Democratic Party candidate for the 2020 elections - a nomination subsequently won by Biden.
Buttigieg replaces Elaine Chao, a Donald-Trump-appointee who followed Trump’s protectionist strategy. For instance, she added conditions to the US’s 40-year-old ‘Open Skies’ policy - effectively meaning it could no longer be called that, by definition. Chao resigned days before Trump’s term ended, seemingly changing allegiances, but unclear to what.
Buttigieg is expected to concentrate on US transport infrastructure - bridges more than aviation.

[] WTO renews CEO’s term.
Zurab Pololikashvili, only 44, has been reappointed head of the WTO*, as secretary general, over 2022-25. His first 4-year term started in 2018.
We wanted the 6-syllable Pololikashvili to be addressed as ‘Mr Zurab’. That has not happened, although we use ‘Zurab’ as though that was his family name,
WTO reports that Zurab won 76% of the votes in a secret ballot of WTO’s Executive Council - an unwieldly-big body of 38 members, although terms of 19 of them expire this year. We don’t know if all 38 voted, as 76% is 28.9 votes. His challenger was Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, part of Bahrain’s Al Khalifa ruling family - of which many, like her, also run government departments.
Experience in politics is the main qualification for this job; knowledge of the travel business is not required. Zurab was ambassador for his native Georgia* to Spain and some other countries; his 2nd-time in that post.
Before, he was minister of economic development for a short time, 2009-10, ambassador to Spain 2006-9, and deputy foreign minister also for one year, 2005-06. He also worked with Georgia’s private TBC Bank 2001-5 and again 2010-11.
As well as these jobs, and surprisingly, he was CEO of Georgia’s then leading football club, Dinamo Tbilisi, 2001-11. But then in 2018, he named a famous footballer, Lionel Messi, as WTO ambassador for sustainable tourism; we assume, charitably, that this was for publicity reasons.
Zurab’s job is also primarily political/promotional - to explain to world governments how valuable is the travel business. But what the WTO has been struggling to do in its 45 years of existence, was achieved in 4/5 months of the covid coronavirus in 2020. Surely everyone now knows the value of the travel business?
Although not expected to disband, WTO has not yet announced any new/replacement mission.
Sometimes, the political element of the job seems to affect sensible judgement. Most notably, this came at end-2020 when Zurab praised Brazil for its sustainable tourism practices. Most independent observers would probably condemn Brazil for the damage it has caused, and is causing, the environment.
This appears to indicate that Zurab’s primary role is to please his bosses - who are essentially all its full members, which are country governments.
*Notes:
-WTO - World Tourism Organization, which it abbreviates to UNWTO - is a Spain-based UN-designated lobbying body for the travel business.
-Little-known Georgia was part of the Soviet Union until 1991. The infamous Soviet Union leader Josef Stalin was born in Georgia. Zurab was in Spain at the time of a disastrous (for Georgia) short war with Russia in 2008.

‘end

08/07/2021

An excerpt from our monthly People-in-Travel report. As this is a subscription report, the following item is not from the current edition.

WTO renews CEO’s term
Zurab Pololikashvili, only 44, has been reappointed head of the WTO*, as secretary general, over 2022-25. His first 4-year term started in 2018.
We wanted the 6-syllable Pololikashvili to be addressed as ‘Mr Zurab’. That has not happened, although we use ‘Zurab’ as though that was his family name,
WTO reports that Zurab won 76% of the votes in a secret ballot of WTO’s Executive Council - an unwieldly-big body of 38 members, although terms of 19 of them expire this year. We don’t know if all 38 voted, as 76% is 28.9 votes. His challenger was Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, part of Bahrain’s Al Khalifa ruling family - of which many, like her, also run government departments.
Experience in politics is the main qualification for this job; knowledge of the travel business is not required. Zurab was ambassador for his native Georgia* to Spain and some other countries; his 2nd-time in that post.
Before, he was minister of economic development for a short time, 2009-10, ambassador to Spain 2006-9, and deputy foreign minister also for one year, 2005-06. He also worked with Georgia’s private TBC Bank 2001-5 and again 2010-11.
As well as these jobs, and surprisingly, he was CEO of Georgia’s then leading football club, Dinamo Tbilisi, 2001-11. But then in 2018, he named a famous footballer, Lionel Messi, as WTO ambassador for sustainable tourism; we assume, charitably, that this was for publicity reasons.
Zurab’s job is also primarily political/promotional - to explain to world governments how valuable is the travel business. But what the WTO has been struggling to do in its 45 years of existence, was achieved in 4/5 months of the covid coronavirus in 2020. Surely everyone now knows the value of the travel business?
Although not expected to disband, WTO has not yet announced any new/replacement mission.
Sometimes, the political element of the job seems to affect sensible judgement. Most notably, this came at end-2020 when Zurab praised Brazil for its sustainable tourism practices. Most independent observers would probably condemn Brazil for the damage it has caused, and is causing, the environment.
This appears to indicate that Zurab’s primary role is to please his bosses - who are essentially all its full members, which are country governments.

*Notes:
-WTO - World Tourism Organization, which it abbreviates to UNWTO - is a Spain-based UN-designated lobbying body for the travel business.
-Little-known Georgia was part of the Soviet Union until 1991. The infamous Soviet Union leader Josef Stalin was born in Georgia. Zurab was in Spain at the time of a disastrous (for Georgia) short war with Russia in 2008.

‘end

20/06/2021

An excerpt from our monthly People-in-Travel report. As this is a subscription report, the following items are not from the current edition.

2020 Review
CEO/head moves
[] Air heads.
-Lufthansa. New CEOs at Lufthansa Group (LHG) airlines:
[] Peter Ge**er, 56, at Brussels, due to start this March. He has been chairman of Lufthansa Cargo Since 2014, having joined LHG in 1992.
[] Dieter Vranckx, 47, at Swiss, due to start this month. Was CEO at Brussels. Succeeds Thomas Kluhr, 58, who resigned; he had been Swiss CEO since 2016, and with LHG for 30 years. Vranckx has been with LHG since 2001. In 2018, he joined Brussels as CFO, and then became CEO only in January this year.

-ICAG. Internal changes at ICAG*:
[] Willie Walsh left as ICAG’s CEO as planned after a 6-month covid-related delay - even if covid hasn’t left. Luis Gallego took over; he was chairman and CEO at Iberia.
[] Alex Cruz left as chief executive at British Airways, partly because he did not cut enough costs. Sean Doyle took over; he was chairman and chief executive at Aer Lingus. He worked at BA for 20 years before moving to head Aer Lingus two years ago.
[] Donal Moriarty became interim chief executive at Aer Lingus; he was the airline’s chief corporate affairs officer.
*ICAG = International Consolidated Airlines Group; AerLingus British Iberia Level Vueling, others.

-Emirates. Tim Clark, president of the airline Emirates, was due to leave last June. He didn’t, and is still there - blaming covid, as ICAG’s Walsh, for the delay.
In his 35 years with the airline he has not groomed a successor. His predecessor (and the creator of the airline’s businessplan, what we call a one-stop-shop), the late Maurice Flanagan, groomed Clark.

-Others.
-Calin Rovinescu is due to retire as Air Canada CEO next month; he has been in the job for 12 years. Michael Rousseau, deputy CEO and CFO, is due to take over.
-Brad Tilden is due to retire as CEO of the Alaska Air group this March. Ben Minicucci, president of Alaska the airline, is due to succeed him. Minicucci was CEO of Virgin America, which the Alaska group bought in 2016.
We think Alaska made a mistake in shutting down the Virgin brand (in 2018) - particularly as the name ‘Alaska’ will always be related to that state, and not to the US. And the VA name was clearly a US-wide brand.
-Ball dropped. A restructured Alitalia kicked out CEO Cramer Ball, and named Fabio Lazzerini to replace him. He worked for Emirates in Italy 2013-7, and then became commercial director at Alitalia. The new chairman is Francesco Caio, who was CEO at state-owned Poste Italiane, one of the shareholders of the new Alitalia.
We believe Lazzerini will be removed within four years - for not making the airline profitable. Likewise his replacement.
-Enrique Cueto, CEO of Latam Airlines Group, left. Roberto Alvo, chief commercial officer, took over. Latam is a Chile-based company owning shares in six airlines in South America.
-Qantas merged its domestic and international business units. Andrew David, CEO Domestic got the combined job. Tino La Spina, CEO International, got fired.
-Saudia’s COO Ibrahim Koshy became CEO, replacing Jaan Albrecht, who took the job in 2016.
-Campbell Wilson rejoined Singapore Airlines’ no-frills-airline Scoot as CEO. He was Scoot’s founding CEO over 2012-16, then an SVP at Singapore Airlines. He replaced Lee Lik Hsin, who moved back to SIA as an EVP. As it was Lee who replaced Wilson, he was presumably ‘fired’ from the Scoot job. But this being Singapore, his new SIA job was presented as a promotion.
-United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz seems to have been fired. He was in charge when the denied-boarding-passenger-dragging incident took place, but who also had medical problems. He was named executive chairman until this May. Taking over as CEO was Scott Kirby. Chairman Jane Garvey retired.
-Jayne Hrdlicka became CEO/MD of the Virgin Australia group, succeeding Paul Scurrah, who took the job only in March 2019, but these moves follow the sale of the VA group to Bain Capital. A US national, Hrdlicka moved to Australia in 1994, and was CEO of rival Qantas’s Jetstar 2012-18.
Even without the problems of covid, her task would be tough. We think Bain has made a strategic mistake in buying Virgin, but it will be Hrdlicka to prove us right or wrong.

[] Hotel heads.
-Kempinski. Here we go (and come) again. Kempinski Hotels* has made frequent CEO changes. Recent ones:
-Last month Bernold Schroeder was named interim chairman/CEO. He joined Kempinski in 2017, and was Europe COO. Before that, he was CEO at Singapore’s Pan Pacific Hotels.
-He replaced Martin Smura, who joined only in mid-2019.
-For three years before Smura, CEO was Markus Semer, who resigned at the same time as the company’s CFO.
-Alejandro Bernabe was CEO 2014-6, but left in troubled circumstances, see next.
-In 2014 CEO Reto Wittwer left after 19 years. Over 2015/6 there was a scandal where Kempinski legally accused Wittwer as having moved about US$5mn out of the company - presumably for self-gain. That ended with an out-of-court settlement where Kempinski appeared to retract its accusations. Bernabe, who had taken over from Wittwer, was the ‘public face’ of the accusations, and thus left when those accusations fizzled.
*Kempinski describes itself as Europe’s oldest hotel company, but for 20 years primarily non-European companies have owned it. Currently, this is now effectively Thailand’s king (via the country’s Crown Property Bureau, nominally state owned but in 2020 the king took control of the CPB’s US$50bn assets), but also 70% by the family of Kempinski’s chairman, Abdulla Saif, formerly Bahrain's minister of finance. In an earlier phase, Thailand’s Dusit Hotels owned 50% and managed the group.

-Nepotism at Marriott, contd. Marriott Hotels’ chairman Bill Marriott, 88, due to become ‘chairman emeritus’ in 2022 and replaced by his son, David Marriott, president of the company’s US operations.
We find it surprising that such a big company (c7000 hotels), with its stock quoted on the US Nasdaq stock exchange, continues nepotism*. We are also surprised that shareholders agree to this - although Arne Sorenson will apparently continue as CEO, and the position of chairman is usually operationally less important than that of CEO.
*Wikipedia: The company was founded in 1927 by John and Alice Marriott; their son Bill became CEO in 1972 and chairman in 1985. He appointed Sorenson as CEO in 2012.

-Others.
-Easy Hotel* names Francois Bacchetta as CEO, replacing Guy Parsons. Bacchetta was with Easyjet for 15 years, lastly as country director France, Italy.
*New majority owners from late-2019 were Icamap, a UK-based real-estate fund-manager, and Ivanhoe, a UK company owned by Quebec’s pension company, CDPQ (Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec). These two control about 69%, founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou (via his Easy Group) 28%, others 3%.
-Michael Wale, CEO of Kerzner International* since 2018, joined the KI board. Taking over as CEO was Philippe Zuber, who had been COO after joining KI in 2015. Zuber is credited with ‘launching the evolution’ of an O&O division. As it is not possible to launch an evolution, we presume Zuber simply launched the division.
*Owns the Atlantis and One&Only resort brands, neither of which is successful.
-Jim Murren, MGM Resorts chairman/CEO, left after 22 years, 12 as CEO.
-Timo Gruenert took over from Frank Marrenbach as CEO of Germany’s Oetker hotel group. Gruenert started his career at Oetker in 2005, and became Co-MD and CFO in 2009. Oetker’s growth has been slow - from a start of four in 2009 to nine in 2014 until now.
-Peter Gowers, CEO of Travelodge UK, left; he had been CEO since 2013. Taking over was Craig Bonnar, previously COO.

[] Industry heads.
-The Expedia* Group named Peter Kern its new CEO - on the board since 2005 and vice chairman since 2018. EG’s previous CEO Mark Okerstrom resigned late 2019 following disagreements with chairman Barry Diller and the board on strategy.
*Wikipedia lists the Expedia Group as a US-based OTA (online travel agency). Its brands are Car Rentals, Expedia, Home Away, Hotels, Hotwire, Orbitz, Travelocity, Trivago, Vrbo.

-Others.
-Matt Stoeckel was due to leave Tourism Fiji, the islands’ DMO, last month; he joined as CEO in June 2016.
-Yann Leriche new CEO of Getlink*. He was CEO of Transdev North America, a transport operator, which he joined in 2008. He is French, an important qualification for this job. He replaced Jacques Gounon, 68, president since 2007 and who is now chairman.
*Inexplicable name for the France-based company that operates the Eurotunnel between France and the UK. It was Groupe Eurotunnel.
-Scott Wilson new president of Sabre* Hospitality Solutions; he was chief commercial officer at Great Wolf Resorts*.
*Notes:
-Sabre is a US-based software and technology company for the travel business.
-GWR is a US-based operator of 17 indoor water parks, most with accommodation attached.

[] Officialdom heads.
-IATA. Alexandre de Juniac, IATA* DG (similar to a CEO) due to leave this March. He has been DG since 2016; before he headed Air France-KLM. Due to take over is Willie Walsh, previously ICAG* CEO. Also, Robin Hayes, CEO of JetBlue (heading it since 2014), to chairman - a largely honorific post. His term will run until 2022. He takes over from Carsten Spohr, CEO of Lufthansa. Due to take over from Hayes in 2022 until 2023 is Rickard Gustafson, CEO of the SAS Group.
*Notes:
-IATA = International Air Transport Association. Switzerland-based airlines’ trade body.
-ICAG = London/Madrid-based International Consolidated Airlines Group. Airlines include AerLingus, British, Iberia, Level, Vueling.

-Others.
-PATA’s* new chairman Wong Soon-Hwa replaced Chris Bottrill, there since May 2018. Most of Wong’s work in the travel business was his 22 years with Hertz Asia Pacific through 2015.
*Pacific Asia Travel Association, a Bangkok-based regional promotional body.

[] Words (paraphrased).
-Antonio Guterres, head of the United Nations. Our interpretation of his speech is that travelling can help the world recover from the damage caused by the covid coronavirus.
The most egregious countering fact is of course, that travel was the sole cause of the worldwide spread of covid. If the virus started in Wuhan, China, as generally believed, then it would likely have not gone further if the first carrier/s stayed in Wuhan. But they travelled, as did others, and so spread the virus worldwide.
To have the chutzpah not only to ignore this fact, but to add that travel can help the recovery, seems shockingly irresponsible - if not plain stupid.
Excerpts:
-Tourism can be a platform for overcoming the pandemic.
-By bringing people together, tourism can promote solidarity and trust.
-The United Nations World Tourism Organization is strongly committed to this work. That is not its name; it is the World Tourism Organization, which the WTO abbreviates to UNWTO.
-The livelihoods of many depend on [‘tourism’], especially women and particularly in the world’s most vulnerable countries.
-The protection of biodiversity relies heavily on the tourist sector, from conservation to the revenue generated by those efforts.

[] Life/death.
-Hotel leaders die.
James Sherwood, 86, American. An entrepreneur more than an operator. However, he bought and re-established the Orient Express train (operating London-Venice, despite that name). And he bought a number of grand hotels (best-known, Cipriani in Venice), developed under the name Orient Express Hotels.
Also despite that name, OEH owned and operated trains (including the OE) and riverboats as well as hotels. OEH was renamed Belmond in 2014 and was bought by the LVMH luxury-goods company in 2018.
Curt Strand, 99, American. An operator more than an entrepreneur. Headed Hilton International, working there 40 years until 1987. HI was separate, legally from 1964, from what was Hilton Corporation, and Strand was at HI from the start.
HC was limited to operating Hiltons in the US; HI the rest of the world. At one time, HI was owned by the now-defunct TWA airline (and its rival InterContinental was owned by Pan Am, also defunct). HC and HI became one again in 2006.
Sol Kerzner, 84, South African. Founder of Kerzner International, One & Only Resorts, Sun International. Developed Sun City, now with four hotels, two golf courses, man-made lake, and an entertainment centre with a 6000-seat complex. Developed Paradise Resort in the Bahamas, which became the first Atlantis, with 2000 rooms. Retired in 2014.
-He first did well when South African Breweries funded his Holiday Inn franchise in South Africa.
-Sun City was a product of apartheid - white South Africans could do in that bantustan what they could not do in SA.
-Why were his international creations - Kerzner Intl, O&O, Paradise/Atlantis - failures, a question that we have been asking for a long time? Perhaps he was not a great hotelier?

-Others.
-Air Asia’s top-2 chiefs - CEO Tony Fernandes, chairman Kamarudin Meranun - were cleared of bribery allegations by Malaysia’s fraud office. They had stepped down in February over allegations outside Malaysia that Airbus paid a bribe of US$50mn to two un-named AA executives to buy 180 Airbus aircraft.
-Garuda Indonesia's CEO Emirsyah Satar 2005-14 jailed for eight years. He was found guilty of accepting bribes for buying Airbus A320s and A330s and Rolls Royce engines. In 2019, Garuda’s CEO Ari Askhara was fired for avoiding taxes on a motorcycle imported into Indonesia on the delivery flight of a new Airbus.

‘end

27/05/2021

An excerpt from our monthly People-in-Travel report. As this is a subscription report, the following items are not from the current edition.

New leaders at Lufthansa’s airlines
New CEOs at three of the Lufthansa Group (LHG) airlines:
[] Peter Ge**er, 56, at Brussels, due to start this March. He has been chairman of Lufthansa Cargo Since 2014, having joined LHG in 1992.
He will have a second role there, as LHG representative for European affairs.
[] Dieter Vranckx, 47, at Swiss, due to start next month. Currently CEO at Brussels. Succeeds Thomas Kluhr, 58, who resigns; he has been Swiss CEO since 2016, and with LHG for 30 years.
Vranckx has been with LHG since 2001. In 2018, he joined Brussels as CFO, and then became CEO only in January this year.
[] Dorothea von Boxberg, 46, at Lufthansa Cargo, due to start this March. She joined LHG in 2007.

New leaders at IATA
Alexandre de Juniac, IATA* DG (similar to a CEO) is due to leave this March. He has been DG since 2016; before he headed Air France-KLM.
Due to take over then is Willie Walsh, who left as ICAG* CEO earlier this year. He had been ICAG CEO since its creation in 2011, and before that CEO of Aer Lingus then British Airways.
Other changes:
-Robin Hayes, CEO of JetBlue (heading it since 2014), to chairman - a largely honorific post. His term will run until 2022. He takes over from Carsten Spohr, CEO of Lufthansa.
-Due to take over from Hayes in 2022 until 2023 is Rickard Gustafson, CEO of the SAS Group.
*Notes:
-IATA = International Air Transport Association. Switzerland-based airlines’ trade body.
-ICAG = London/Madrid-based International Consolidated Airlines Group. Airlines include AerLingus, British, Iberia, Level, Vueling.

Briefs
[] Brad Tilden is due to retire as CEO of the Alaska Air group next March. Ben Minicucci, president of Alaska the airline, is due to succeed him. Minicucci was CEO of Virgin America, which the Alaska group bought in 2016.
We think Alaska made a mistake in shutting down the Virgin brand (in 2018) - particularly as the name ‘Alaska’ will always be related to that state, and not to the US. And the VA name was clearly a US-wide brand.

[] Peter Gowers, CEO of Travelodge UK, is due to leave at the end of this month. He has been CEO since 2013. Due to take over as interim CEO is Craig Bonnar, currently COO.

‘end

PIC: VRANCKX

Travel Business Analyst

22/03/2024

03/07/2022

30/06/2022

28/12/2021

17/08/2021

08/07/2021

20/06/2021

27/05/2021

Address

Website

Alerts

Shortcuts

Share

Category