Mr Michael Burke | General Manager Airline Planning
Hong Kong Airlines | Hong Kong

He is directing strategy across the Commercial division with responsibility for delivering several key initiatives, with day to day accountability for the airline’s network planning, alliance & partnerships and revenue management functions.

Prior to this he was directing the company’s sales & marketing strategy, helping to deliver revenue in excess of HK$6b (c.$800m USD) by implementing and driving several key initiatives in a short-time frame: improving both volumes and yield, improving planning across the business, building the brand and reducing distribution costs.

Previously he built, led and managed strong, high performance teams internationally in the UK, US, India and China over a 16 year career with Virgin Atlantic, with a focus on execution: operational excellence, quality of service delivery and employee engagement. He developed new and profitable revenue streams by successfully managing all key relationships with partners and suppliers, overcoming any cross-cultural boundaries in the process.

The high-profile nature of representing the Virgin brand in the two key emerging markets of India and China afforded him a wide exposure to many top-level CEO’s and visiting dignitaries such as Government Ministers & Trade Delegations and during his time in Shanghai he served as both the Chairperson of the European Chamber of Commerce’s Aviation Working Group as well as being an Executive Committee member of the British Chamber of Commerce.

He graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Transport from the University of Plymouth, UK in 1995 and has recently attended Harvard Business School’s Global Strategic Management program due to his acute interest in geopolitical matters and business’s place within them.

He also has a growing command of both spoken and written Putonghua.

Appearances coming up:

Day 1, 28 October 2014, Premium Conference

@ 13.30

Executive Discussions

Roundtable 1: Enhancing customer experience

How to develop a unique and consistent customer experience?
Assessing the risks and benefits of one-for-all vs. segmentized customer experience
Sharing case study on Cebu Pacific Air’s strategies in building a loyal passenger base

CONFIRMED: Josefina Ignacio , Director - Guest Experience & Innovation, Cebu Pacific Air

Roundtable 2: Route development

Asssessing the impact of the Gulf and Turkish carriers, as well as improvements in technology on airlines route development practices
What are the strategies for route development in considerartion of the over-capacity in LCC sector
Infrastructure challenges and potential solutions

CONFIRMED: Michael Burke , Assistant Director – Commercial, Hong Kong Airlines

Roundtable 3: Expansion and capacity planning

Identifying new markets and flying to the right destinations? How to deal with a particular route that does not grow or grow very slowly?
Determining the optimal fleeting of the schedule to maximise profitability: Which commercial tool for network planning is better?
Open sky opportunities: Assessing the opportunities and threats of unlimited multiple destinations.

CONFIRMED: Rafael Taizhanov , Director, Commercial Planning, Air Astana

Roundtable 4: The millennial generation