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
