Galileo Hires Own Sales Team
<B> Galileo Hires Own Sales Team</B>
By Mary Ann McNulty
Galileo International in the coming weeks will be hiring its own sales force to call on corporations and agencies, thus ending the long-standing marketing agreements with United Airlines and US Airways, both of which own part of the global distribution system.
The move follows an arbiter's ruling in late December, which essentially dismissed United's claims that Galileo's plans to establish its own sales force, and perhaps hire away UA employees, would cause it great harm. United filed the suit in April 1998, four months after Galileo told the carriers of its plans to terminate the marketing agreements under which the airlines sold Apollo.
Although Galileo wouldn't say how many salespeople it plans to hire, a spokesperson said it will "add staff inside and outside the organization," at both the global and local (national) distribution company levels. The new sales reps will be in addition to the account managers that have long been employed by Apollo/Galileo. Among those being hired is a new director of corporate sales, who will report to Michael Foliot, senior vice president of global vendor marketing. In October, Foliot was given the added responsibility of corporate and consumer marketing of Galileo and began building his team (<I>BTN,</I> Oct. 12, 1998).
In the corporate market, the global sales force will call on Fortune 250 companies, while the local sales reps will be charged with all others. One of the reasons that Galileo wanted to establish its own sales force to begin with, the Galileo spokesperson said, is because the corporate sales products are so different from the other automation the company offers.
Galileo ended its agreement with US Airways last Saturday, at which time the airline laid off 13 of its 17 marketing automation field sales staff. The remaining four people were reassigned as account managers to support existing customers, according to spokesman David Castelveter. Galileo has expressed interest in interviewing the laid-off employees, he added.
Despite the changes, Castelveter emphasized that US Airways will continue to work with Galileo and its joint customers as a significant portion of its bookings go through this GDS, of which it owns 6.7 percent. Galileo emphasized that it's continuing to work with both carriers to make the transition as smooth as possible for them and customers.
The agreement with United is slated to end March 31, according to the Galileo spokesperson. Although a United spokesman initially indicated that the company might pursue additional legal remedies to this matter, he later said the carrier had no comment on the matter.
Sources said airline executives have been trying to forge a new marketing agreement with Galileo. The family feud has drawn significant attention as United is Galileo's single largest owner, with 31.9 percent of the GDS, and relies on it as its host computing system. Airlines own all but 35.1 percent of the GDS, which is a publicly traded company.