Former CEO of Flybe transfers to TAP Air Portugal

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Viewing 14 posts - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)

  • AMcWhirter
    Participant

    Seeing the recent Forum posting re TAP prompted me to post today’s news.

    La Tribune [FR] has a paywall beyond the first paragraph.

    But this news comes as a surprise to those of us here in the UK.

    https://www.latribune.fr/entreprises-finance/services/transport-logistique/grande-premiere-une-ex-d-air-france-prend-les-renes-d-une-compagnie-etrangere-christine-ourmieres-widener-ceo-de-tap-portugal-886482.html?xtor=EPR-2-%5Bl-actu-du-jour%5D-20210610&_ope=eyJndWlkIjoiZDlhMzkwZWM2MTgzMjVjNDliMDlkMmI3M2VhNjYxNmUifQ%3D%3D

    Christine Ourmieres-Widener was CEO at Flybe for almost five years.

    She stepped down from her role at Flybe in 2019 at the when the regional airline was acquired by Virgin Connect in 2019.

    Flybe to rebrand as Virgin Connect

    As many readers can testify Flybe encountered several issues during the final period of its existence.

    This piece from April 2019 refers to the last minute cancellation of many flights across its network.

    Flybe cancels flights for “operational reasons”


    EruditeSheep
    Participant

    My recollections of Flybe was that it was an excellent airline, but it tried to expand too quickly under its CEO’s stewardship, which led to the financial difficulties that we all knew about. Then came the debacle of the deal “constructed” with Virgin and Stobart. Now we see that Stobart is going down the tube – let’s hope that TAP doesn’t go the same way….


    esselle
    Participant

    [postquote quote=1102500]

    Hadn’t she left Flybe before the Virgin/Stobart deal was struck?


    AMcWhirter
    Participant

    In common with many other European airlines TAP is receiving financial support and this was approved by the European Commission.

    Last April saw the EC approve Euros 462 million in aid.

    In June 2020 the EC had approved Euros 1.2 billion in aid

    https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_1928


    FaroFlyer
    Participant

    [postquote quote=1102539]

    That is €1.662 billion which equates to ~ €165 per resident, the vast majority of who will never set foot on a TAP aircraft.

    TAP Revenue in 2017 was €3 billion. In 2021-2022 TAP is expected to have revenues between 1.3 billion euros and two billion euros
    Source https://www.plataformamedia.com/en/2020/12/11/tap-revenue-in-2021-2022-will-be-at-2006-2007-levels/


    canucklad
    Participant

    The corporate world never ceases to amaze me. Under her tenure FlyBe was driven to the point of collapse until it was “rescued” in a last ditch wing and a prayer deal .
    And yet, here’s another CEO being rewarded with an even bigger gig . It’s the corporate equivalent of failed football managers inexplicable ability to leave clubs with big payoffs and then get rehired soon thereafter ….. Optimism is one thing, reality seems to be something totally different !

    3 users thanked author for this post.

    toptraveller
    Participant

    You reference Flybe, but Christine was also CEO at Cityjet for many years as well as other high level roles within the business travel industry. I am not sure what the purpose of the post is…I would suggest there is far more to Flybe’s demise than a CEO who was at the helm for a relatively short period.


    toptraveller
    Participant

    Christine was CEO at Flybe for 2 years and 7 months to be exact…some way off the 5 years quoted…

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    canucklad
    Participant

    [quote quote=1102828]You reference Flybe, but Christine was also CEO at Cityjet for many years as well as other high level roles within the business travel industry.[/quote]

    Cityjet, ultimately failed as a scheduled airline , and before that was a high flying exec at AF/KLM …mmmmm ?


    DoorsToManual
    Participant

    I hope he can get TAP refunds processed a bit faster. Been waiting 4 months to get my money back after they cancelled my flight!


    Travel Smurf
    Participant

    I’ve been waiting for 7 months for a refund for a fully refundable tickets. Hopefully she can do something about it, however it’s TAP so I don’t want to hold my breath. I reached out to her directly on LinkedIn because trying to work through the pay-to-call TAP lines is just a waste of time. The people who answer the phone can’t do anything but read a script with the latest excuse of why they can’t issue refunds. The latest excuse that it takes 7 months to work out if a ticket is refundable is just laughable. And this is after the previous excuse of “we’ve prioritised your refund”. Their script writers need to become better liars!

    There are no supervisors present apparently, and callers can’t speak to one, they can only be emailed by the people on the line. And of course, no responses come through. Nor are responses provided when you complain to TAP via their official complaint process.

    TAP is an airline that needs to fail and go bankrupt given their contempt towards customers. Pride of Portugal? Right now they are the thief of Portugal considering I’m yet to find someone who actually got a refund from them in the last 12-18 months.


    FaroFlyer
    Participant

    TS, they will not give refunds. All that you can do is make a chargeback claim against the card that you used to pay for the ticket.


    FaroFlyer
    Participant

    TS, you may be interested in this article

    TAP Sends Out An Email Mentioning Refunds


    CathayLoyalist2
    Participant

    I wonder if her email address she has provided is real

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