British Airways head of UK and Ireland sales and global accounts Luke Goggin has been poached by rival Virgin Atlantic.
He will join the UK long-haul carrier as vice president of global sales in August, replacing Lee Haslett, who has moved to Celestyal Cruises.
Rachel Wilton, Virgin Atlantic head of sales operations, will act as interim global sales vice president until Goggin joins.
Meanwhile, Liz Mathews will join as Virgin Atlantic Holidays vice president in March from Flight Centre Travel Group where she was retail managing director and led Flight Centre UK through the pandemic.
Goggin will be responsible for the airline’s global sales performance, with direct accountability for all corporate and agency sales, working closely with joint venture partners Delta Air Lines, Air France and KLM, and exploring new revenue growth opportunities with SkyTeam and other partner airlines across the global portfolio.
He said: “I have long admired Virgin Atlantic and I’m very much looking forward to taking on this pivotal role. I’m thrilled to be joining such a strong sales team, building on Virgin Atlantic’s robust trade, corporate and industry body relationships to drive profitable growth.”
Virgin Atlantic chief commercial officer Juha Jarvinen said: “I’m looking forward to welcoming Luke and Liz to these two crucial roles in our commercial team and to our beloved Virgin family.
“Luke will bring a wealth of airline corporate sales experience and strong insights into the dynamics of airline account management, joint ventures and sales operations.
“Meanwhile Liz has a very strong track record in travel industry leisure sales.
“Both will now play a critical part in delivering for our customers, supercharging our revenue growth ambitions, and delivering our vision of becoming sustainably profitable and the most loved travel company.”