Hans Belle to AAT Kings

The Travel Corporation has appointed Sabre veteran Hans Belle as the new managing director of AAT Kings, Inspiring Journeys and Aussie Adventures. Taking up the role in January, Belle takes the position vacated by Anthony Hayes, who resigned in September to take up a new role as ceo of Fantasea Cruises. Belle joins TTC after two decades with Sabre Pacific and Sabre Holdings, including time as vice president and general manager Asia Pacific. However his experience is not only related to technology – before joining Sabre he was involved with Australian ski operator The Alpine Group meaning he is familiar with the domestic tourism landscape as well as having extensive expertise in sales and marketing. TTC ceo Australia John Veitch said Belle’s appointment followed an extensive search. “With three decades of travel industry experience, Hans demonstrated excellent credentials for this role with his exceptional leadership skills, strong international expertise and impressive commercial abilities”. Belle added that he was delighted to be joining TTC, saying he was looking forward to “working closely with the global AAT Kings team and our valued network of industry partners on a variety of innovative strategies to ensure we continue to represent the very best that Australia and New Zealand have to offer”. counts Malindo Airways as a key client. It’s the end of an era for Jet Airways’ former gsa, Helloworld’s World Aviation Services which has represented the Indian airline since 1993 – almost a quarter of a century. Jet Airways senior VP of sales and marketing, Colin Neubronner, said traffic to India continues to grow rapidly. “Together with our codeshare partner, Qantas, we will re-establish Jet Airways as the airline of choice for travellers flying to India,” he promised. CVFR group managing director Ram Chhabra said he was honoured to be appointed to represent Jet Airways, which he described as “the premium airline of India”. Through its partnership with Qantas Jet Airways offers seamless connectivity over Singapore from all major cities in Australia and New Zealand. “We look forward to working with our trade partners in taking Jet Airways to the next level in Australia and New Zealand,” commented Airline Rep Services general manager, Roheena Gidwani. Effective 06 December the new Jet Airways number for reservations and sales in Australia is 1300 889 195. agency members, suppliers, customers and staff”. The wide-ranging agreement covers a range of objectives which could see the development of exclusive products, revenue growth opportunities, innovation through technology development and operational process benefits, Manwaring said. First Travel Group is headed up by Andrew Bowman, who is also vice-president of the Travel Agents Association of New Zealand. The organisation operates a number of brands including YOU Travel, First Fares and Lifestyle Holidays. It’s also a member of the Virtuoso Travel group, with Bowman saying the alliance with Express “allows for a joint focus on creating customer value whilst maintaining independence and local market flavour”. First Travel Group’s 65-plus members last year transacted a collective volume in excess of NZ$500 million.