WORLD CLASS SPEAKERS

One of Asia’s most recognisable entrepreneurs, Tony Fernandes is best known for co-founding low-cost carrier AirAsia with Datuk Kamarudin Meranun and democratising air travel in the region.Fernandes and Datuk Kamarudin bought the ailing airline for a token MYR1 (approximately USD0.25) and MYR40...

Joanna Geraghty is President & Chief Operating Officer of JetBlue, responsible for JetBlue’s operations and commercial performance including network, brand and marketing and revenue management.Geraghty’s focus is on delivering a leading customer service experience, enhancing operational and...

Mr Clark has been in the civil aviation business for his whole professional career, having joined British Caledonian in 1972.In 1975, he moved to Gulf Air in Bahrain and subsequently in 1985 to Dubai where he became a member of the founding team of Emirates as Head of Airline Planning.  In 2003, he ...

Alan Joyce has been Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the Qantas Group since November 2008.In his time as CEO, he has overseen the biggest transformation of Qantas since it was privatised in 1995, including the turnaround and renewed growth of Qantas International, the expansion of...

Alexandre de Juniac became the seventh person to lead the International Air Transport Association (IATA) when he took on the role of Director General and CEO from 1 September 2016.De Juniac has almost three decades of experience in both the private and public sectors. This includes senior positions ...

Johan Lundgren has spent his entire career in the travel industry working his way up through various roles to become most recently the Group Deputy CEO of Tui AG. Johan was also the CEO of the Mainstream Tourism business of the TUI Group (formed from the merger of TUI Travel PLC and TUI AG) where...

A graduate of the Mines Paris Tech, Anne Rigail joined Air Inter in 1991. In 1996, she was appointed in charge of Air France customer services at Paris-Orly. In 1999, she became director of passenger and baggage connections at the Paris-Charles de Gaulle hub, and subsequently head of customer and...

Hernán Rincón has been Avianca Holdings CEO since April 2016. Under his leadership, the Airline has refocused all its organization and resources around the customer experience and has begun a journey towards the digital transformation of the entire business. Initial achievements in that...

Duncan Bureau was appointed President, Air Canada Rouge in May 2018 with overall responsibility for all aspects of Air Canada's low-cost carrier and subsidiary, focusing on Air Canada Rouge's distinct brand and culture.  He was previously Vice President, Global Sales, a role held since...

Jude was appointed Sun Country’s President and CEO in July of 2017.  He previously served as the COO and EVP of Allegiant Travel Co. Prior to his career with Allegiant, Jude was a finance manager at American Airlines. From 1996 to 2002, he served as an Infantry Officer in the US Marine Corps. Jude...

Glenn is a leading thought leader in the travel, aviation, and technology space and is a sought after public speaker on travel and corporate innovation.  He is plugged into all aspects of emerging digital trends, next generation technology and behavioural change. His key expertise is exploiting...

Founding Chief Executive Officer of flyadeal, the Middle East's newest low-cost airline based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia which commenced operations on 23rd September 2017. Part of the SAUDIA group. Previously, Partner at Heidrick & Struggles, in its Industrial Practice focusing on the...

Luca Zuccoli joined easyJet in August 2018 as the airline’s first Chief Data Officer. easyJet has the ambition of becoming the most data driven airline in the world and Luca brings world-leading technical data expertise as well as the experience of successfully applying data management to drive...

Shahar Markovitch is the Chief Digital and Information Officer of EL AL Israel Airlines as of March 2018. Shahar joins El-Al from Bank Hapoalim, Israel largest bank, where he served as Chief Digital Officer. In this role he was recognized as one of Israel's top 100 most...

Johannes Walter began his career in the airline businessin 2001 at Austrian Airlines. In 2005, he moved to Franceas Sales Manager and in 2007 as General Manager toSweden. In 2009, the Viennese took over themanagement of the entire sales operations in Europe. Asfrom 2012, he served as Director Sales ...

Ali Serdar YAKUT is the Chief Information Technology & Transformation Officer of Turkish Airlines since June 2015. Ali Serdar YAKUT commenced his professional business life in 1996 in the finance sector. After serving in various positions and companies, in 2001 started working for IBM. In...

Alex Knigge joined Emirates in January 2015 in a newly created role to set the strategic direction for a wide range of Brand & Marketing topics including Online Revenue Growth, Online Customer Experience, Marketing Technology, Digital Data & Analytics, Customer Lifecycle Marketing, and...

Roland Jaggi is a Swiss citizen who started his airline career at Swissair. After 12 exciting years in Sales and Revenue Management he moved in 2006 to Athens based Aegean Airlines where he has built up the Revenue Management and Pricing teams.After first adding Distribution to his scope of...

Mark Nasr was appointed Vice President, Loyalty and eCommerce in July, 2017. In this role, Mark has responsibility for developing the vision and strategies for Air Canada's all-new, digital first loyalty program to be launched in 2020. He will also lead the design, development, implementation...

Katri Harra-Salonen has conducted a long career in digital transformation positions. Since 2012, she has been a founder and the CEO of Umbrella Strategic Advisory Ltd. Previously, she has been the CEO of Fjord Sweden in Stockholm and held leadership positions at Satama Interactive in Finland and...

Santiago Aldana is an industrial engineer from the Universidad de los Andes in Bogota Colombia. He holds 2 master's degrees in Economics and Business Administration from the University of Illinois (Urbana Champaign) and MIT Sloan School of Management. Throughout a professional...

Xavier Lagardère is Lufthansa Group’s Vice President in charge of Distribution, leading Lufthansa,Swiss and Austrian Airlines’ go-to-market strategy and channel solutions. Prior positions includeleading Brussels Airlines channel shift as VP e-Commerce, heading Groupon’s travel business inFrance and ...

LATAM Airlines, VP Ancillary Revenue & Distribution - 17 years in LATAM; 3 years in current positionDuring my 17 years of experience in LATAM I have been able to develop in-depth knowledge of Revenue Management, Network, Sales, Marketing, Loyalty, Distribution and Ancillary. In my current...

Eduardo Costa is the global Senior Director of Marketing & Customer Experience at LATAM and he is responsible for developing and implementing the Client Strategy and Experience, Branding and Communication, and assuring  LATAM’s Product Quality. He joined the LATAM Group in 2012 as Marketing...

Jodi Williams is General Manager, Global Brand and Content Marketing at Air New Zealand.  Since joining the company Jodi has held a number of roles at Air New Zealand within Sales, Product Development & Customer Design and Marketing including the role of Director of Marketing for Air New...

Sharon Geervliet is Social Media Manager at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines with a love for traveling … and travelers. From the moment she joined the company, Sharon’s focus has been on developing digital and conversational services that take the hassle out of the traveler’s notoriously complex journey...

Kenya Airways Appoints Clare Ward as its CIONairobi, January 24, 2019 - National carrier, Kenya Airways has appointed Clare Ward as its Chief Information Officer (CIO) effective 23rd January 2019. Ms. Ward is an innovative and accomplished IT professional with a track record of driving bottom line...

Ingibjörg has over 15 years experience in the airline industry, working for Icelandair. There she has had various management roles. She was  Director of the Icelandair Saga Club, Icelandair's frequent flyer program, where she and her team implemented a new and more customer focused loyalty...

 Stephen Attenborough leads commercial activities for Virgin Galactic, part of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group, which is on track to become the world's first passenger-carrying commercial spaceline.  Stephen was invited by Richard to join Virgin Galactic as the company's first full...

Seth Cassel is the Co-Founder and President of EveryMundo, the performance marketing technology and services company specializing in airline eCommerce and multilingual online customer acquisition. The company’s areas of expertise include Multichannel Online Marketing and...

Since March 2018, Robert Albrecht has been Head of New Business and responsible for all business development activities the Paysafe group’s latest online cash payment method ‘Paysafecash’, which has been developed especially for the e-commerce sector. Previously, Mr. Albrecht worked for 11 years at ...

Full name: David GunnarssonJob title: CEO

ABHI CHACKO, Head of IT Commercial and Innovation at Gatwick Airport, is accountable for providing ITservices to airlines, ground handlers and airport tenants as well as for driving tech-led innovation for the campus. With more than 20 years of experience in aviation IT, Abhi has had a positive...

I am currently Director of Marketing & Digital Experience for Aer Lingus. My role involves promoting the Aer Lingus brand globally using the ‘Smart Flies’ proposition. Smart is all about our guests making the ‘Smart Choice’. Key projects include a re-brand of Aer Lingus and design of a new...

Barbara Dalibard is CEO and a member of the Board of Directors of SITA. Since joining SITA in July 2016, Barbara has outlined a clear vision for SITA to make air travel easier at every step, for airports, airlines and the broader air transport industry. Barbara has brought a passion for innovation...

Peter Drissell was appointed by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as its first Director of Aviation Security in May 2013. Peter led the transfer of the Aviation Security function (and some 90 posts) from the Department for Transport (DfT) to the CAA, which took place as planned on 1st April...

Biography:  Since his appointment as Farelogix President and CEO in January 2005, Jim Davidson has transformed the company’s vision and product offerings to focus on broader opportunities within travel distribution technology.  Under his leadership, Farelogix solutions are in production on six...

Iris Taguet is the Head of the Blockchain Program at Air France – KLM. She is responsible for building the global blockchain strategy for the Air France – KLM group, from awareness, to business uses cases; from defining the technical architecture to setting up the governance model; and finally...

Hari Marar, Managing Director & CEO of Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), is responsible for the management of the Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru. From joining BIAL in September 2006 as the Head of Daily Operations, Hari has held various positions at the...

Maryann Simson has been active in the #PaxEx media work for nearly a decade. Before joining the Airline Passenger Experience Association as APEX Media director, she served in a variety of editorial and PR positions, including as Creative Editor and then Managing Editor at PAX International...

Alison Taylor is Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Distribution at American Airlines, the largest airline in the world. She leads a team of more than 1,000 associates to sell the American Airlines product and experience, by building strategic relationships with corporate and group...

Michael is responsible for overseeing the daily operations of Allegiant's OCC. He joined the Allegiant Team in 2013, and has held the role of Director of Flight Safety, and most recently, Director of OCC.Michael began his career in aviation flying with the German Air Force. After completing his ...

Mike leads the Ancillary Revenue team at Frontier Airlines. Frontier is a low-fare airline flying to 100 North American destinations with a fleet of more than 80 aircraft. The Ancillary Revenue team focuses on applying classical and behavioural economics and data science to offer management and...

Joined SAS in 2017 and took responsibility for building an Artificial Intelligence team during 2018 to drive adoption of AI across SAS from intelligent automation to chatbots and machine learning. Prior to SAS worked eight years with supporting companies to adopt new technology focusing on...

Rob comes from a diverse travel, loyalty and technology background.  Most recently, Rob was responsible for Customer Marketing, Loyalty and E-Commerce at Carnival Cruise Line.  While at Carnival, Rob created Carnival’s first loyalty program – the VIFP Club (Very Important Fun Person Club – keeping...

I’m a passionate computer science engineer and PRINCE2 practitioner certified professional with a strong focus on human-machine interaction. I strongly believe project management discipline allows humans to materialize their dreams by providing a methodic way of working.I have experience in working ...

Graduated from Boğaziçi University, Department of Economics in 1991, Samsunlu completed his MBA at Missouri University. Starting his career as a financial analyst, he worked for various investment companies between 1995 and 2006 as a CEO and Board member. He was engaged as a investment and...

Himanshu Joshi is the Senior Manager of Innovation and Digital Learning at Qatar Airways. He has over 20 years of experience in digital learning and has been an effective change leader in the organisations he has worked with. He managed the region's first mobile and immersive learning project...

Dave is Senior Vice President, Revenue Management, Digital & Distribution at Virgin Atlantic and was appointed to this role in September 2017.  He is responsible for pricing and revenue management, achieving Virgin Atlantic’s revenue targets, improving the digital customer experience and Virgin ...

Entrepreneur and Revenue Management expert, highly passionate about turning good ideas into successful businesses. As CCO at Airnguru, I enjoy discovering how we can take advantage of cutting-edge technologies for the benefit of the airline business. Airnguru is a startup using the power of Cloud...

Jens Ritter, who was born in Germany on first of August 1973 began his aviation career as First Officer on the Airbus 320 when he joined Lufthansa German Airlines in 2003. He has been First Officer on the Airbus 330/340 since 2008 and Senior First Officer since 2011. In 2015 he became Captain on...

Sébastien Couturier joined Groupe ADP (Aéroports de Paris), having graduated in economics from the Sorbonne and having received an Master Degree in air transport from the Institut du Transport Aérien in Aix-en-Provence. Since then he has held positions of increasing responsibility in operational...

Joel Goldberg is the Chief Digital Officer at Wizz Air, the largest low-cost airline in Central and Eastern Europe. The company’s low-cost leader strategy has transformed the airline from being one of the many start-ups in 2004 to one of the major European players today. Wizz Air has carried over...

Alfredo C. Tan is the first Chief Digital & Innovation Officer for WestJet Airlines responsible for helping to transform the airline to be more digitally focused and drive a culture of innovation.  His focus is to significantly enhance WestJet’s self-service capabilities and transform all their ...

Ghaleb is passionate about People and Technology, he is curious and eager to learn.  He found the perfect match for his motivation within the Airline Industry where he has spent more than 12 years. He is currently leading the Solutions Team for Airlines in Amadeus Northern and Western...

Louis Saint-Cyr joined WestJet on November 17, 2015 as the Vice President of Airports and Cargo.  In April of 2019, he changed roles and is now the Vice President of Guest Experience. Louis now has responsibility for Inflight, Onboard Service, Catering, Contact Centres, Social Care, Training...

As Head of Social Media, Paul is responsible for social strategy and operations at Aer Lingus, including social guest care, content marketing and social insights. Paul holds an MBA from UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School and a BA from Dublin City University. Based in Dublin, Aer Lingus is ...

Amy Burr is the Managing Director of Strategic Partnerships at JetBlue Technology Ventures (JTV). Her role is to build an ecosystem of partners and deployment opportunities for the many technologies of JTV’s portfolio companies. Amy has been a leader in creating, sourcing and implementing...

Linda Bos is the blockchain lead at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. Her main responsibility is creating strategic awareness on the appliances of blockchain technology on executive level and deliver blockchain based products with ecosystem partners.

Payments and Fraud Prevention Expert. Conversion Rate Optimization in Ecommerce. Fan of agile methodologies, lean thinking. I manage the global payment strategy and the fraud prevention in Air Europa. It is an exciting challenge, going from negotiation with suppliers to definition of optimal...

Henry Chen Weinstein founded and is currently managing Cockpit Innovation as part of the EL AL Group.Cockpit is the first airline industry venture fund in the world with the mission to support and invest in entrepreneurs with disruptive technologies in digital travel, aviation and aerospace. As...

François has over 20 years of experience in strategy consulting, entrepreneurship and business development.He has founded Starburst Accelerator, the 1st incubator/accelerator dedicated to aerospace start-ups.François specializes in the Aviation Aerospace and Defense industries featuring high stakes ...

Onur Dedeköylü currently works as vice president - marketing at Pegasus Airlines, responsible for ancillary management, e-commerce, brand management and communications, FFP-CRM and corporate communications. Before Pegasus, Onur worked in brand management, marketing research, e-commerce, CRM, new...

07.2014 –Miles & More GmbH, Frankfurt am MainManaging Director04.2011 – 07.2014Deutsche Lufthansa, Frankfurt am MainVice President Miles & More01.2009 - 03.2011Deutsche Lufthansa, Frankfurt am MainVice President Strategy Passenger Airline02.2007 - 12.2009Deutsche Lufthansa, Frankfurt am...

As Director of Merchandising and Ancillary Strategy, Mariana Fonseca drives the strategy and delivery of American Airlines’ ancillary products, including paid seats, checked bags, upgrades and flight changes.  She is also responsible for establishing and managing partnerships with providers of...

Henry Harteveldt is one of the travel industry’s most well-known and respected industry analysts and advisors. After nearly 12 years as Forrester Research’s travel industry analyst, Henry founded Atmosphere Research in September 2011. Atmosphere Research provides...

Andrew leads a team of loyalty professionals in managing the loyalty program of Finnair, Finnair Plus. Andrew's career has spanned roles in Direct Marketing, CRM, Customer Research and Commercial Relationship Management in industries including Publishing, Not-for-Profit and Airlines.  

Brendan Noonan is an aviation veteran having working in the industry for over 30 years and is a native of Dublin Ireland. He is currently Vice President Talent Development for Qatar Airways based in Doha, Qatar. He manages a team of 100 and is responsible for the training & development needs of ...

Houman is an aerospace/software engineer, and a data & technology leader with a particular focus on emerging technologies, software engineering, data science & AI, and business transformation.He is the inventor and founder of the Open Blockchain protocol and algorithm. He has developed and...

Vivian Lo has a diverse aviation management background with key managerial positions in Cathay Pacific’s Head Quarter in Customer, Airports, Cargo, Revenue Management, Marketing, International Affairs, Airline Planning, and Regional/Country management roles in Taiwan, Korea, China...

● BA - Communications, Universidad Iberoamericana Mexico City ● MBA - Boston University ● Experienced in developing digital branding and content strategies for major international brands such as, Heineken, Disney ABC Studios, WWE Studios and Universidad Anáhuac. ●...

Responsible for digital innovations and strategy. Best in class data quality and connectivity for distribution via 3rd parties such as OTAs, Metasearch, dynamic packaging and and other touristic sales channels. Implemented the latest NDC technology and architecture for all group airlines to connect ...

Gilles leads the product strategy for the Digital Transformation and Innovation programme at Etihad Airways. This ambitious initiative was launched in 2016 with the main objective to grow Etihad’s revenues in merchandising and distribution, by delivering a seamless and personalized experience to...

Andrew leads easyJet’s Ancillary Revenue and Distribution teams within the Commercial Function. Andrew and the team are passionate about driving customer-led revenue growth, be that through new product initiatives like Worldwide by easyJet or through effective distribution partnerships. In the past ...

Sébastien is an experienced strategy and marketing professional with 8+ years in the online travel industry.He joined Google in 2014 after 4 years at leading French online travel agency Voyages-sncf.com (recently rebranded to Oui-SNCF), where he led the e-commerce team.He currently advises European ...

Tye Radcliffe has been in the travel industry since 1997, primarily focused on leading teams and programs associated with the distribution of airline products and services. Tye joined United Airlines in 2011 and is currently Director of Distribution, where he and his team are responsible for...

Babar Rahman is responsible for driving the Inflight Entertainment and Connectivity strategy at Qatar Airways. In addition, he manages Global Sponsorships and Community Relations for the airline. In his role managing IFE, Qatar Airways relaunched the Inflight Entertainment as Oryx...

Juliana joined Volaris since 2010 and has ever since contributed to the revenue growth strategy for Volaris. First, launching commercial alliances with other airlines to  strengthen the network and then boosting  ancillary revenue with an ultra low cost approach. She has designed and developed...

Practical experienceSince 03/16 Eurowings Aviation GmbH, CologneVice President Customer Experience & Product Responsibilities: Definition, development and execution of the Eurowings Group short-haul and long-haul product (Cabin Interior, Inflight Entertainment/Connectivity, Catering/Buy on...

Raj has more than 25 years of experience in the innovation and information technology sectors, asa strategist, leader, VC, and advisor.Currently, Raj is Managing Director and Head of Investing at JetBlue Technology Ventures, thecorporate venture capital arm of JetBlue Airways Corp.Previously, he...

Brian Sumers is a Los Angeles-based reporter for Skift, where he covers the global airline industry. Since joining Skift in June 2016, Brian has focused on how innovation and technology influence the airline passenger experience.  Previously, Brian wrote about airline and airport news for Conde...

VP Inflight Innovation & AncillariesCustomer Division

Educated as a rocket scientist, Rogier is an airline professional/leader at Finnair and responsible for Finnair's online sales, GDS & NDC distribution, revenue accounting, data science, and project management. Finnair is one of the leading airlines in the distribution space. Before...

A business professional with a diversified experience in leading digital transformation. Recently, successfully migrated PSS & GDS project in record four months’ time – it was the biggest transformation project in PIA over past 18 years. Also, I am working on IATA STB (Simplify the Business)...

Al Tredinnick has helped many of the world’s best-known airlines - including British Airways, SWISS, Lufthansa, Etihad and Cathay – adopt world-class passenger communication strategies. Specialising in customer experience best practice, Al takes 15below’s ground-breaking technology to the travel...

My. Zhang Zhenyuan is the Head of IT department at Spring Airlines, where he has served as the GDS division director, deputy general manager and general manager of information technology department since 2013. He manages a team of over 500 engineers and is responsible for the development and...

Harald Eisenaecher is Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of Infare, the market-leading provider in pricing intelligence and strategic partner to the travel industry. Harald joined Infare in February 2018 to lead the Commercial Organisation of Infare globally. Prior to joining Infare, Harald held senior ...

David joined easyJet as Chief Pilot in 2016 and now as easyJet’s Director of Flight Operations is responsible for one of Europe’s busiest and largest flight networks which flies over 80 million passengers annually on 280 aircraft to over 140 airports across Europe and beyond.Previously David worked ...