Dnata Travel Group has appointed former Thomas Cook Airlines’ director of air supply to head-up a charter flying programme.
Henry Sunley joins the group, which is behind Travel Republic, Netflights, Gold Medal, Travel 2 and Travelbag, to support growth plans across its B2B and B2C divisions in the UK.
Update: Dnata plans to launch short-haul charters by next summer
His new role will include procuring short and medium haul capacity, which once sourced will be revenue managed and distributed via dnata Travel Group sales channels and brands.
Long-haul operations will remain under the remit of director of air product, Simon Woodford.
Sunley worked at Cook for 24 years, starting at the tour operation and moving to Thomas Cook Airlines in 2012 and became digital, UK & international sales director in 2017, leading a team of 70 people in the UK, Germany and Spain.
“This is an exciting new challenge for me, and I’m looking forward to using all my experience gained at Thomas Cook to make dnata Travel Group even more successful,” he said. “Several million airline seats are sold each year across the group’s brands, so it’s vitally important that those are being secured at the right price, and sold to our millions of customers properly.
“I’m particularly excited by the opportunity to build a charter proposition for the group, using my expertise in this area to maximise what we see as being a market with considerable potential.”
Sunley will report into dnata Travel Group chief executive John Bevan, and be based at the company’s offices in Leyland, Lancashire.
Bevan said: “We boast an unrivalled variety and scale across our brands, so controlling a proportion of the flight capacity out there is a logical step for us to take as we pursue our growth strategy, and will provide even more choice and value for partners in the trade and our leisure customers.
“In Henry I know we have the right person for this exciting new market for us. He is a great addition to our senior leadership team and will mean we can significantly accelerate the effectiveness and ambition of our air capacity planning and procurement across our whole group, and our range of product. I’m delighted to welcome such a well-respected and well-connected individual to the dnata family.”
Sunley joins a number of other ex-Thomas Cook staff who have joined dnata Travel Group sales, operations, service and back office roles in recent weeks.
Update: Dnata plans to launch short-haul charters by next summer
