A new managing director of Thomson cruises has been appointed internally by parent company Tui UK & Ireland to succeed long-standing boss David Selby.
Thomson Airways engineering director Fraser Ellacott will take over on April 4 from Selby who is leaving the company after a hand over period.
Ellacott has more than 15 years experience in the travel industry including time with British Airways, starting as a graduate trainee before taking management roles in the engineering, commercial and operations departments.
He joined First Choice Airways in 2005 as engineering director and took on the same role following the merger with Thomsonfly at the larger combined airline, Thomson Airways.
Tui UK & Ireland commercial director David Burling said: “Fraser has considerable experience in operations and has strong leadership skills that will be essential in driving forward the Thomson Cruises strategy. Fraser has been instrumental in developing Thomson Airway’s strong engineering base within the airline.”
Ellacott said: “I’m really looking forward to playing a significant role in developing the Thomson Cruises programme and operations. We have built up a superb network of loyal customers and it will be great to be a part of the team as we look to grow this success and build on our existing product range.”
As well as the core Thomson brand the cruise operator also runs Island Cruises the one-time joint venture with Royal Caribbean which has just the single ship.