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April 2017
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Head of sales, Europe, Steve Francis joins PrivateFly

PrivateFly makes board and management appointments

UK-headquartered booking plat- form PrivateFly has made a number of senior appointments in order to strengthen its board and leadership team ahead of its next phase of growth in Europe and the USA.

Finance director Ben Watts has been promoted to the board. Watts is a qualified management accountant with over 16 years' experience at FD level in the media and luxury retail sectors.

Tomasz Kustrzynski has joined as director of technology from music technology company Shazam. He will lead PrivateFly's development teams and his appointment follows the creation of two leadership roles in regional sales: Steve Francis has joined as head of sales (Europe), after four years in British Airways' commercial department; and Geoff Villano is now vice president of sales (USA), following senior management roles in luxury travel and hospitality.

Watts, Kustrzynski and Francis will be based at the European head office in St Albans, UK, while Villano is based at the company's US office in Fort Lauderdale.

CEO Adam Twidell comments: “These new roles demonstrate the exciting recipe of talent that is helping to drive PrivateFly's continued growth: best practice experience from other sectors, combined with strong operational aviation knowledge. Ben Watts has proved to be a valuable commercial asset at management level, and his promotion will help us steer our future growth. And with our tech innovation continuing apace, Tomasz brings excellent experience from Shazam. PrivateFly's continued growth has created a need for new sales management roles in Europe and the US. Steve and Geoff are already leading the teams in a strong start to 2017.”

Fastest-growing UK companies

PrivateFly has been featured for the second year running in the Sunday Times' SME Export Track 100 index, which recognises the UK's fastest- growing small and medium-sized companies in terms of international sales. It appears at number 25 in the list, reflecting the company's 95 per cent international sales growth over the past two years.

Forget A-listers, PrivateFly's customer is a more modest type

Analysis of its typical private jet user has led to the discovery that for PrivateFly, he is a 41-year-old male who usually flies with around four others in a Citation Mustang from London to Paris. It's a more modest profile that many might expect, but is based on the company's flight search data from the past year.

Twidell says: “There are a lot of stereotypes surrounding who flies by private jet. Some of the findings may come as a surprise to those outside the industry, particularly the popularity of small jets and short distance flights. Today there is a growing crossover between the profile of the private jet user and the airline passenger.

“Today's customer is driven by the time-saving and convenience of private air travel which, while more expensive than airline travel, is not only for oligarchs, celebrities or the super-rich travelling in lavish jets. The critical mass of [our] private jet users are successful business owners or families happy to pay a premium for a better travel experience.”