London , February 10 2005
Opodo, the pan-European online travel company, today announced that Sally Balcombe has been appointed Product Director with responsibility for developing Opodo’s portfolio of air and non-air products.
Sally has over 20 years experience in the travel industry most recently as Managing Director, Specialist Sun Division, Specialist Holidays Group (TUI AG). Prior to this she held a variety of senior positions at British Airways Holidays including Managing Director from 2000 to 2001.
Commenting on Sally’s appointment, Simon Vincent, CEO of Opodo said, “Sally has a wealth of knowledge and travel industry experience which will be invaluable in developing our product strategy to further meet the travel requirements of all our customers.”
Commenting on her appointment Sally said, “Having worked closely with the Opodo team over the last nine months, I am delighted to be joining them as Product Director. Now is the ideal opportunity to look at developing and enhancing the products we currently offer our customers. I look forward to working with Simon and the rest of team to further enhance our service and provide our customers with a truly comprehensive pan-European online travel service.”
Sally will report directly to Opodo CEO Simon Vincent.
End
Biographical details – Sally Balcombe
2004 to date Consultant (Opodo)
2001 to 2003 Managing Director, Specialist Sun Division, Specialist Holidays Group.
2000 to 2001 Managing Director, British Airways Holidays (Global )
2000 Head of eCommerce strategy and Project Director, British Airways Holidays.
1994 to 1999 Head of Global Business Unit, British Airways Holidays.
1992 to 1994 General Manager Global Leisure Products, British Airways Holidays.
1990 to 1992 Manager Product Development and Strategy, British Airways Holidays
1988 to 1990 Marketing Manager, Owners Abroad/Redwing Holidays.
1987 to 1988 Product Manager, British Airways Holidays.
1985 to 1987 Senior Commercial Executive, Intasun Holidays.
1982 to 1985 Operations Director and General Manager, Snowtime Limited
Opodo
Opodo addresses the real needs of today’s traveller by offering an unbiased and competitively priced online travel service for world travel. With access to flights from nearly 500 airlines, over 45,000 hotel properties, 7,000 car hire locations, package holidays, city breaks, lifestyle holidays, ski deals, comprehensive travel insurance and value added services such as airport parking, with Opodo you really can ‘ Travel Your Way’.
Opodo was created by nine of Europe's leading airlines - Aer Lingus, Air France, Alitalia, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, KLM and Lufthansa. Amadeus, the travel technology company based in Madrid, took a 55% controlling interest in the company in June 2004.
In January 2005, Opodo acquired Quest Travel, one of the UK’s leading independent long-haul travel specialists, in February 2005 Opodo acquired Karavel, a leading French tour operating company.
Opodo launched its first site (www.opodo.de) in Germany in November 2001, its UK site (www.opodo.co.uk) in January and its French site (www.opodo.fr) in April 2002. In August 204 Opodo took over operational management of Eviaggi – the Italian online travel agency.
Media contact
Gail Sinden
Opodo Corporate Communications
Tel:
+ 44 (0) 870 352 5087
Fax:
+ 44 (0) 870 352 5086
Email: gail.sinden@opodo.com
|
|
