Newsmaker: Cline Takes Corporate Lead For Continental

Continental Airlines is elevating its focus on the corporate market by creating two new positions within its sales hierarchy.

Monisa Cline, formerly a national sales manager in the carrier's travel agency sales group, last month was named to the new position of director of corporate sales. She will report to vice president of national sales Dave Hilfman.

Continental's national sales staff is divided into three groups-travel agencies, leisure and corporate-all of which are managed by Hilfman. Previously, however, only the leisure group had its own director. Hilfman said the move "is a pretty major leap for us. Clearly, the fact that Monisa is heading up the corporate team with a closer focus has elevated its importance within the company."

Cline will oversee Continental's national corporate sales managers responsible for Fortune 500 accounts. The airline has six such managers, two each in Houston, Newark and New York City. However, a third manager will be hired in the New York office to help the airline "go after Wall Street and Manhattan," Cline said. She said the moves also are a reflection of an increase in corporate volume for Continental and the consequential need for relief of Hilfman's workload.

Some of Cline's initial projects will involve improving communications with corporate travel managers via a new quarterly newsletter to be published beginning in May, as well as intermittent "burst faxes," which could be press releases or other relevant information. She also will explore the possibilities of e-mail communication. "We're relationship managers," Cline said. "It's our job to know every point of contact corporate buyers have with Continental."

In her previous position in the travel agency group which she had held since 1992, Cline managed major agency accounts including Maritz Travel, Rosenbluth Travel and Uniglobe Travel. She originally joined Continental as an area sales manager in Atlanta. Cline began her career with Eastern Airlines in 1985 as a campus sales representative at the University of Florida, where she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in marketing.