Airplus Taps CWT's Gall For Global

Lufthansa-owned Airplus International continued to broaden its international scope and expansion with last month's appointment of 15-year industry veteran Christian Gall as executive director of global markets.

Formerly vice president of technology solutions for Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Gall succeeds Claudia Thiele in pursuit of global corporate clients. Airplus is trying to mimic in new markets its success in Europe, where the Frankfurt, Germany-based company has had significant traction, claiming 47 percent of Europe's top 500 companies and the majority of its 20,000 corporate clients worldwide.

"Christian Gall will enable Airplus to forge ahead with its expansion in international markets," said Patrick Diemer, managing director of Lufthansa AirPlus. "His international achievements will make a substantial contribution to achieving our goal of being a global player and the clear leader in Europe's business travel management sector by 2008."

"I'm going to be based in Germany, but I plan to spend at least 60 percent of my time around the world," Gall told BTN from Airplus' North American headquarters in Washington D.C., which is among the latest additions to Airplus' expansion. Gall said North America and France would be among his major priorities in the next year. "There are two goals," Gall said. "First, by 2008, we want to be number one in Europe. The second goal is to be a global player. You cannot be a global player without having significant market share in the States."

In the past year, North America has witnessed expansive growth in sales and marketing efforts. Airplus in October 2003 hired former UATP president Richard Crum to head its North American division, and this year launched its Company Account offering in Canada and Mexico. The North American division of Airplus last month also hired David Cooney as northeast regional sales manager.

"He is the latest addition to the growing AirPlus U.S. team that is promoting and supporting the expansion of AirPlus International throughout the North American market to meet the demand for a low-cost, innovative and reliable corporate travel payment solution," Airplus said in a statement.

Cooney moves to Airplus from Lufthansa, where he led a team of 40 salespeople, Airplus said. Cooney also served as a senior sales director at GetThere Inc., "after gleaning several years of sales experience at American Express Consulting Services and United Airlines," Airplus added.