oneworld appoints Mairead Ryan as new commercial head for Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands

10 September 2008

oneworld®, the leading quality global airline alliance, has appointed Mairead Ryan as its new Market Development Manager for Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.

Her task is to increase market share for oneworld and its members in these three "key target markets", taking the drive launched by the alliance in these regions in the past couple of years up another gear.

oneworld comprises ten of the biggest and best names in the world airline industry, all international airline benchmarks for quality and value - American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Finnair, LAN Airlines, Malév Hungarian Airlines, Qantas and Royal Jordanian, plus 20 of their affiliate carriers.  Mexicana will join them during 2009.  

Between them they offer the world's only truly network, with oneworld the only alliance with any member airline based in South America, in the Middle East or in Australia.  The alliance serves some 700 destinations in almost 150 countries, carrying more than 320 million passengers a year worldwide on around 9,000 daily departures.

oneworld was named the World's Leading Airline Alliance for the fifth year running in the latest (2007) World Travel Awards, which have been described as the travel industry's Oscars

The alliance's airlines are well established in all countries for which Mairead now holds responsibility:

Belgium - Five oneworld members serve Brussels (American Airlines, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia and Malév).  Between them, they offer 145 non-stop departures a week to seven destinations in the Americas and Europe, with connections from there to the other near 700 cities the alliance as a whole serves.

Germany - All ten oneworld airlines serve Germany, with flights to and from eight airports - Berlin Tegel, Dresden, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hannover, Munich and Stuttgart - and "rail and fly" connections from cities throughout the country.  They operate 1,200 non-stops flights a week to 18 destinations in North and South America, Asia, Australia, Europe and the Middle East, with onwards connections to the rest of the alliance's network.

The Netherlands - Seven oneworld members serve Amsterdam (British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, Malév and Royal Jordanian), offering 200 non-stop departures a week to eight destinations in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, with onwards connections worldwide.

oneworld offers a wider choice of great value and flexible alliance fare and sales products than any other airline grouping - for touring one continent or traveling all around the world, whether you are a  captain of industry or a student backpacker.

Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands are three of just six countries worldwide where the alliance offers its businessflyer sales product for small and medium-sized enterprises, delivering significant savings on regular air fares in return for a more regular relationship with the alliance's carriers.  Some 7,000 businesses have now registered as customers and revenues generated up more than 20 per cent year-on-year in 2007.

Customers flying from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands can also now "mix and match" any published fares of any of the alliance's member airlines for trips involving flights by any combination of the carriers.  oneworld is the only alliance to offer this degree of ticketing flexibility between all member airlines.  It means passengers from these countries can fly in one direction on one oneworld airline and return on another alliance member - now using both airlines' most attractive published prices all the way.

Mairead Ryan joins the oneworld Management Company on secondment from founder member British Airways, where her last job was as Marketing Executive Benelux, responsible for the airline's marketing and PR activities in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

Reporting to oneworld Commercial Director Filip Lemmens, she maintains her base in Amsterdam, where she has been working for BA. 

Mairead joined British Airways in Amsterdam in February 2004, working initially as a Leisure Sales Account Manager.  Before, she had worked as Marketing Executive Netherlands for Tourism Ireland.  Born in Ireland, she speaks English and Dutch fluently and some German. 

About oneworld

oneworld brings together some of the best and biggest names in the airline business - American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN, Malév Hungarian Airlines, Qantas and Royal Jordanian, and around 20 affiliates including American Eagle, Dragonair, LAN Argentina, LAN Ecuador and LAN Peru.  Mexicana and its affiliate Click Mexicana will join the alliance in 2009. 

Between them, these airlines:

  • Serve almost 700 airports in nearly 150 countries, with some 9,000 daily departures.
  • Offer nearly 550 airport lounges for premium customers.
  • Carry 320 million passengers a year.
  • Employ more than 250,000 people.
  • Operate almost 2,500 aircraft.
  • Generate more than US$100 billion annual revenues.

The alliance enables its members to offer their customers more services and benefits than any airline can provide on its own.  These include a broader route network, opportunities to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles and points across the combined oneworld network and more airport lounges.