Mr. Abdul Wahab Teffaha, Secretary General, Arab Air Carriers Association (AACO)
After his post-graduate studies in Socio - Economic Development & Political Sociology, Mr. Teffaha joined AACO as an assistant tariff analyst and rose up in the ranks until becoming Assistant Secretary General in 1992. He was elected Secretary General of the Association in June 1996 and still serves in this capacity. In his career he participated in a large number of international and regional conferences. On the regional level Mr. Teffaha played a key role in developing a new strategy for AACO based on collective power of negotiations in order to achieve better economic results for the Arab Airlines. Joint Projects were quickly launched and include to date Joint Fuel Purchasing, Joint Ground Handling, Joint MIDT Processing, the establishment of Regional Training Center and agreements with Galileo
and Amadeus covering almost all the markets of the region, the launch of Joint Network Cooperation and Deployment of E- Tickets and Kiosks.
Mr. Peter Pohlschmidt, Manager of eCommerce, Qatar Airways
Based in Qatar Airways' head office in Doha, Peter is responsible for all E-commerce operations of Qatar Airways. The aim is to develop position www.qatarairways.com as a key sales- and communication channel for the airline.
Peter has extensive international experience in E-commerce and the online travel industry in particular. Having started his career with MSN/Microsoft in Germany he moved to Opodo in London where he was part of the launch team to create one of the major travel portals in Europe. Seeking new international challenges he moved to the pan-Asian travel portal Zuji in Singapore before joining Qatar Airways in 2005. Peter holds a law degree and an MBA and considers himself
a consumer-oriented marketer by profession.
> Changing Distribution in the Middle East: How is Qatar Airways Reducing its Distribution Costs? (click to download .pdf file)
Mr. Stéphane Pingaud, Head of Distribution Marketing, Airline Business Group, Amadeus
Stéphane has over 10 years of experience in the travel industry. Based at the corporate
headquarters in Madrid, Stéphane's primary responsibilities include the marketing of
distribution related services to airline customers, and he also plays a pivotal role in the
development and deployment of our value-based pricing concept.
Stéphane joined
Amadeus in September 1996, where he was responsible for managing and expanding
the commercial relationship with airline customers spanning across three continents.
Prior to joining Amadeus, he held several positions with leisure tour operators.
Stéphane
holds a degree in Business Administration from the École Supérieure du Commerce Extérieur. Born in Paris, Stéphane is fluent in French, English and Spanish.
> The Role of GDS in the Distribution Chain: Evolution, Revolution or More of the Same?
Mr. Mohammed Kadrouch, sales director – EMEA, Sabre Airline Solutions
Based in Dubai, Mohammed Kadrouch is responsible for Sabre Airline Solutions’ commercial relationship with airlines in the Middle East.His role includes meeting the need of the region’s airlines for technology that enables them to maximise yields and make their operations more efficient and profitable. Kadrouch joined Sabre Airline Solutions from Amadeus. Before this he was e-commerce consultant at Magnashop International in The Hague. Kadrouch is a graduate of the International Business and Management School at The Hague University in The Netherlands, and completed a course in International Marketing at the University of Wales in Swansea.
Mr. Rajiv Aggarwal, Director Business Development, Farelogix
As Director of Business Development at Farelogix, Rajiv Aggarwal is responsible for global airline relationships. He previously led the company’s Project and Product Management groups. Before joining Farelogix in 2001, Rajiv was with Northrop Grumman-Canada LTD., where he spearheaded the development and implementation of an industry first CUSS compliant Self Serve Check-in application for Aloha Airlines. Rajiv began his career in the travel industry with Canadian Airlines International. During his 12-year tenure with the company, he held a number of roles ranging from Airport Customer Services Agent to Standards and Procedures Manager responsible for all airport customer services and codeshare implementations. Rajiv has an MBA from the University of Manitoba in Canada.
Frank began his impressive 28 years in the airline industry at Lufthansa German Airlines, where he worked in Pricing, Revenue Management and Data Distribution. Based on his broad system knowledge, Frank was seconded by Lufthansa to serve as Manager for Product Definition, Input/Output Design and Sales & Marketing of the Amadeus Fare Quote System at its inception in 1988. Returning to Lufthansa in 1995, Frank implemented that airline's data distribution unit, as its Head of Production, later joining Lufthansa Systems, as Sales Executive for EMEA. In 2002, Frank became the Director, Tariff Industry Affairs, at IATA. Currently Frank manages his own consultancy business, Airline Solutions, focused on Pricing, Distribution, eTicketing and Business Process Management.
Mr. Binu Jacob, Vice President Product Sales, IBS Software Services
Binu currently heads 4 different Product Lines of Business at IBS. His educational background is in engineering and holds a Masters Degree in Business Management from IIT Delhi. Binu first entered the aviation field as a Short Service Commissioned officer in the Indian Airforce and left the service 6 years later as a Flight Lieutenant. He has lectured as a senior university faculty member in Information System Strategies for organisations and Corporate Strategies. Before moving to IBS a year and a half ago, Binu served as CEO for the Indian IT company Dimensions for 5 years.
> Changing Airline Business Models through New Generation Systems
Mr. Jamal Saudi, Director Information & Commuincation Technology Services (ICTS),
Royal Jordanian Airlines
Jamal has over 27 years experience the airline industry. He joined Royal Jordanian
in 1979 holding an honor Bsc. Engineering from Nottingham University in the UK.
He played a major role in the introduction and implementation of automation across
the airline reservation , ticketing ,Departure control ,Cargo ,Flight operation
,Distribution ,… .He introduced and practiced IT zero Budget concept that helped the
airline in multiple cost savings and modernization eliminating airline terminals
/protocols to pure TCP/IP infrastructure, unified desktop, downsizing, IP Telephony.
He served as member in the Jordan national data commutation Network, IATA/AACO
information committees. He is currently sponsoring IATA STB covering CUSS /2DBAR
plus meeting the Departure Control requirements for the One World alliances at RJ.
> The Airport of the Future: How will technologies like eTicket, Remote Check-in and self-Check-in Transform our Airports? (click to download .pdf file)
Dr. Antonio Borges, Director IT & Planning, TACV Cabo Verde Airlines
António began his career in aviation with the Angolan Air Force in 1981. He joined the finance department of TACV Cabo Verde Airlines in 1988 and was promoted to Financial Director in 2001. In 2003 António assumed his current position as Corporate Planning & IT Director with the airline. António holds degrees in economics and management from University Jean Piaget, Cabo Verde and University Agostinho Neto, Luanda Angola, respectively.
> Case Study: eTicket Implementation at TACV Cabo Verde Airlines
Mr. Jean Marc Perreaux, Passenger Services Regional Manager, SITA
Jean-Marc supports the MET and AFR regions for the entire SITA Passenger Services portfolio and joined SITA in August 2001 as a Sales specialist for the South Europe region. Prior to joining SITA, Jean-Marc worked in the airline industry for more than 16 years in the area of Passengers IT Applications for Air France, Amadeus, AOM, Swissair and EDS/Atraxis in Switzerland. He is deeply involved in many eTicketing projects in the Middle East and African regions. A French national, currently based in Paris, Jean-Marc graduated from La Sorbonne University in 1987 with a Master Degree in Business Management and a MBA in Marketing and Statistics.
Mr. Belson Coutinho, Head of E-commerce & Distribution, Jet Airways
Mr. Coutinho has over fourteen years of experience out of which ten years in mainstream
Airline Marketing and Customer Service with an edge in Product Development & planning,
Loyalty Program, e-Commerce, and direct marketing activities. Belson with his engineering
background, started his airline career with the Loyalty Program at Jet Airways and is currently managing its E-commerce & Distribution strategy with key focus in increasing direct (web) sales, reduce distribution cost, web management & online communication, product
development including self-service check-in (Web and Kiosk), E-ticketing and devise strategies to enhance and create new distribution channels.
Mr.
Keith Hyams,
General Manager (EMEA & USAC),
EB2
Keith brings a background of strong corporate experience & has fulfilled various Senior IT & Commercial roles. At Computershare Document Services he performed a Senior IT Management role, a key driver of change following their merger, responsible for a number of IT staff and creation of their Management Information System (MIS). The system enabled the consolidation, tracking & monitoring of information & activity across all their businesses. In 2000, Keith joined EB2 in a Management capacity where he managed several high profile projects before taking on the role of Sales Manager at EB2. He possesses a Bachelor of Economics degree amongst other Management & Leadership credentials.
> Winning Online Distribution Strategies: Balancing Distribution of your product via your website with 3rd party Travel Portals (click to download .PDF file)
Mr. Andy Martin, Director Business Development, Oracle
> What is CRM and achieving return on investment from a CRM System
Mr. Chris Eite, Distribution Systems Architect, Unisys
As a Systems Architect for Unisys Transportation, Chris provides consulting and systems design expertise to Unisys airline and travel industry clients in Asia Pacific. For the last 10 years he has specialised in the design and architecture for e-distribution proposals for both passenger and freight distribution. With Unisys this has included participating in the teams that provided a National carrier with its next five-year technology plan and also a complete e-distribution strategy for passenger and freight. Previously with IBM he was responsible for providing the architecture lead consultant role for a joint IBM and leading Asian Carrier’s e-commerce strategy task force. With over 25 years experience in the IT industry; across a wide range of roles including consulting, program management, systems development, applications architecture, design and programming; and a range of industries including Airline, Airport, Telecommunications, Banking, Finance and Government. In London he led the Airline Network Development and Support Center, which produced the Air/net product. The highly successful suite of Air/Net products were deployed at over thirty-five international airlines and travel related companies such as Air France, Cathay Pacific, Air India, Hertz, SITA and Accor. He participated over a period of three years on the IATA OSI profiling committee. The output of this committee was the IATA published Aeronautical OSI Profile (AOP) a GOSIP for the airline community. He was also involved in the MATAP (Mapping of Airline traffic over TCP/IP) industry standardisation process.
