Oneworld air alliance picks marketer

Airline alliance Oneworld, which includes American Airlines and British Airways among its members, has appointed former United Airlines marketer Nicolas Ferri to head its global marketing. He will be responsible for building revenue for the alliance by marketing its fare and sales offers around the world.

Ferri, who will hold the title of vice-president commercial, previously served at United Airlines as general manager sales and marketing for Hong Kong, India and the Philippines. He will join Oneworld at the beginning of January.

His appointment follows the promotion of John McCulloch to lead the alliance’s central team as managing partner in the summer. McCulloch has previously worked as head of group marketing at HSBC.

Ferri will also take on the global sales responsibilities of vice-president sales, Maunu von Lueders, who left last month to become president of Nordic Airlink.

Oneworld is an alliance of eight airlines (Aer Lingus, American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Finnair, Iberia, LanChile and Qantas). Swiss International Air Lines is to join in 2004.

Oneworld members can buy tickets and earn rewards and points on fares. Last year, Oneworld launched six standard types of ticket for travel across the member carriers’ combined networks. It also introduced interline arrangements for e-tickets, making transfers between airlines easier (MW June 6, 2002)