Northwest Airlines yesterday and Air Canada this morning announced several executive changes and new appointments in top sales and marketing positions.
At Northwest, Thomas Bach, vice president of market planning and Airlink, was named vice president of network planning and revenue management, covering "worldwide route planning and scheduling," as well as revenue management and North American pricing. He is charged with developing "pricing strategies, automated systems and marketing programs" for NWA's North American mainline and Airlink operations. Vice president of domestic pricing and yield management Jim Cron, was named vice president of passenger marketing and sales, and CEO of NWA subsidiary MLT Vacations. He will oversee NWA's passenger marketing, partnerships and sales organizations. Vice president of reservations sales and services Crystal Knotek was named vice president of reservations and customer care, managing NWA's five domestic call centers and customer care organization.
Bach, Cron and Knotek report to Tim Griffin, executive vice president of marketing and distribution.
Yesterday's reorganization announcement followed other recent changes in NWA's sales. Steven Sear this month became vice president of sales, reporting to Cron and replacing Fay Beauchine, who also had led the carrier's customer care team before retiring
(BTN, June 6).
North of the border, Air Canada this morning named three new executives with previous experience at other airlines. Sean Menke on July 11 will become Air Canada's new executive vice president and chief commercial officer, following his tenure as Frontier Airlines' COO. Menke will be responsible for worldwide sales, scheduling, marketing, alliances and other areas. Joshua Koshy was named executive vice president and CFO, effective Aug. 1, following stints in Emirates Group's technology and financial departments. Previous Air Canada CFO Rob Peterson remains CFO of parent Ace Aviation Holdings. Both Menke and Koshy report to president and CEO Montie Brewer.
Meanwhile, Air Canada named veteran Virgin Atlantic executive David Tait as its new senior vice president of customer service. Effective Sept. 1, Tait will oversee Air Canada's customer-facing airport and inflight operations.