Air France KLM UK & IE – New Managers
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Air France KLM announces new General Manager for UK and Ireland Appointment comes as part of wider senior management changes Press Release, 11th September 2013: Air France KLM has appointed of Warner Rootliep as General Manager for the UK and Ireland market. He succeeds Henri Hourcade who joins the French market as Vice President of Sales. Reporting into Henri de Peyrelongue, Senior Vice President of Air France KLM Europe and North Africa, Warner will be responsible for the of overall Passenger Activity, including Ground Services. He will be focused on ensuring that Air France KLM confirms its already strong position in the industry. With more than 20 years’ experience working in the airline industry, Warner has held a variety of key management positions. Joining from Germany where he held the position of General Manager for five years, Warner takes up the role with immediate effect. Warner started his career with KLM in 1990 and spent time in a number of different departments, including Finance, Alliances and Pricing and Revenue Management. In 2003, he took up the position of General Manager for Air France KLM and Northwest Airlines in India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives where he remained until joining the German business. He is married with three children. Warner Rootliep commented: “I’m delighted to be taking on this role within Air France KLM UK and Ireland and thrilled about working with such a dynamic team. Over the last few years our Group has made significant investment in its fleet and network, as well as secured ground breaking joint ventures and partnerships - particularly in the UK & Ireland- all of which are to the benefit of our customers. I look forward to continuing to drive this forward to ensure we remain as one of the industry’s most well-connected airlines which enables customers from across the UK and Ireland to travel efficiently across the world, at the best value for money.” Alongside today’s announcement, Air France KLM has announced the appointment of Nicolas Henin as Commercial Director UK and Ireland. Reporting into Warner Rootliep, Nicolas will be responsible for all the Commercial and Marketing actions, including Direct Sales, Communications and Customer Care. He will also be accountable for the management of alliances and strategic partnerships. After the completion of a Masters Degree in Economics Engineering in Paris, Nicolas joined Air France in 2000. He worked in Network Planning and Pricing before moving to the UK in 2007 to head up the local Pricing and Distribution Team for Air France KLM. In 2009, he transferred to Amsterdam as Director of the Pricing Team for the newly established Air France KLM Delta Alitalia North Atlantic joint venture. It is from here that he returns to the UK and Ireland business and replaces Vincent Kas who joins the Alps and Balkans business as General Manager. Furthermore, Gijs van Popta takes up the position of Head of Sales for Air France KLM in the UK. Reporting into Warner Rootliep as well, he will be responsible for all UK Sales activities, including Leisure and Business, and succeeds Sebastien Guyot who moves to Paris to become Director Global Corporate Sales Development for Air France KLM. Gijs van Popta joined KLM in the Corporate Management department in 2004 before moving to Pricing and Revenue Management, firstly for the China and Japan businesses and then to oversee all European Pricing for North America for the KLM Northwest joint venture. In 2010, Gijs was appointed Air France KLM Commercial Director for Russia and CIS countries. -Ends- For further press information: Contact the Air France / KLM press office at the Red Consultancy on: Email: [email protected] / [email protected] Telephone: +44 20 7025 6625 Notes to editors: Air France and KLM KLM and Air France were founded in 1919 and 1933 respectively and they merged in May 2004. Since then, they have formed a major player in the air transport industry. The two airlines operate the leading long-haul network on departure from Europe. In 2012, Air France and KLM carried 77.4 million passengers to a network of over 200 destinations in more than 100 countries. The two carriers combined currently offer 21 departure points from the UK and Ireland including Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Cork, Edinburgh, Dublin, Dundee, Durham Tees Valley, East Midlands, Glasgow, Humberside, Inverness, Leeds, London Heathrow, London City, Manchester, Manston-Kent, Newcastle, Norwich and Southampton. KLM flies via the multi-awarding winning hub, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, which was voted 'Best Airport in Europe' in 2012 for the 13th consecutive time at the Business Traveller Awards. Passengers flying with Air France experience hassle free travel at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport, which after extensive refurbishment of its terminals, received a 91% rating for customer satisfaction in a 2012 poll. Air France KLM frequent flyer programme, Flying Blue, is the leader programme in Europe and has over 21 million members, of which 775,000 are from the UK. Air France and KLM and their partners Delta and Alitalia operate the biggest trans-Atlantic joint-venture with more than 250 daily flights. Alongside 17 other member airlines Air France and KLM are members of the SkyTeam alliance which offers customers access to a global network of over 15,500 daily flights to 1,000 destinations in 187 countries. Recent accolades for Air France KLM include; Best Short Haul Airline 2013 and Best Business Airline in 2012 at the Business Travel Awards. Internet : www.airfrance.co.uk/ www.klm.com Twitter : @AirFranceUK/ @KLM_UK .