SkyTeam Centralizing Sales And Other Operations

Airline alliance SkyTeam in recent weeks announced several executive appointments, became incorporated as a central organization and opened headquarters at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. Moving to centralize marketing, sales, alliance operations, finance and other administrative functions this year, SkyTeam chairman Leo van Wijk said, "We will have the whole thing up and running by the start of fall."

Van Wijk and SkyTeam managing director Marie-Joseph Malé said the alliance plans to work with member carriers, including Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines, to refine what role SkyTeam plays in structuring corporate deals.

"To make a corporate contract, we still need the participation of each individual airline but with the central organization, clients have a permanent coordinator available to make sure we have coordinated approach," said Van Wijk. At first, he noted the central team would serve more as support staff to the individual carriers that would continue to take the lead on alliance deals.

"Over time, you will see it will be a bit more than just support," Van Wijk said. "Of course, the membership remains in a position that they can make the decisions, have the final say, but as usual, you will see that SkyTeam will be initiating things, and they will take the lead and not just act as a support staff."

SkyTeam last week announced the appointment of Alitalia's Mauro Oretti as the alliance's vice president of sales and marketing among several other recent appointments. Van Wijk and Malé said Oretti would be responsible for leading sales and developing products for the corporate market, as the alliance seeks to become more competitive for corporate deals.

"That's one of the difficulties we were facing: Although each and every individual carrier participated, it was difficult to find people on a full-time basis to coordinate and give proper follow up," Van Wijk said. "That's why we have been lacking speed and efficiency in some cases. With this approach we feel, not only in this area, but other areas, we should be able to accelerate the process, become more efficient and become more customer-oriented."

SkyTeam in April announced plans to reorganize its structure, mimicking to a degree the centralized management companies of the competing Star and Oneworld alliances. Through the new SkyTeam structure, dedicated employees will manage such central services as sales, marketing and advertising, as opposed to the previous structure where those functions were handled by working groups comprising employees of the member airlines.

Since appointing former Air France executive Malé as managing director, SkyTeam also has appointed Delta Air Lines' Gordon Humpherys as vice president of airport services; Korean Air's Ji-sung Hong as vice president of alliance operations; China Southern's Min Zeng as deputy managing director of membership development; Air France's Jean-Guy Lengline as vice president of support and services; and KLM's Fatima da Gloria de Sousa as director of brand and communications.