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 We said farewell to Winter, and welcomed the new buds of Spring with Easter and Passover celebrations. Heading into this new season, we are optimistic for fruitful times ahead, especially as we track the upward trend of the airlines we are handling. I do hope that barring any unforeseen occurrence, we will end up with a profitable year for all the airlines in 2011. We are in full gear for global growth and the fact that we will be entering into a new partnership with IATA – becoming a BSP Consolidator (IBCS) we are truly looking at dynamic global expansion.
Gideon Thaler
President & CEO
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| New Appointments |
TAL Aviation are proudly appointed GSA for:
- Cathay Pacific for Romania (offline)
- Arkia Airlines for Russia (online service from Tel Aviv to Moscow twice weekly, plans to increase service)
- Arkia Airlines for Ukraine (online service from Tel Aviv to Kiev twice weekly, plans to increase service)
- Olympic Air for Serbia (online daily service from Athens to Belgrade)
- Pegasus Airlines for Romania (commencing online service from Istanbul to Bucharest in May - 5 times weekly)
- Amtrak for Poland
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New Locations:
- Office in Saint Petersburg, Russia (staff of four handling reservation, ticketing and sales requirements) and supported by the Moscow office with a staff of 20. The office is in the city center, and is located in a modern office building with excellent access to the corporate world that sits in St. Petersburg.
New Joint Venture:
- New Joint Venture, Incoming Tourism to Israel TAL ADC Tours headed by Mr. Benni De Leeuw. TAL ADC Tours is the tourism division of TAL Aviation and dedicated to promoting tourism to Israel, FIT, Groups, Pilgrims, MICE. With an abundance of experience dealing with tourists to Israel, Mr. Benni De Leeuw heads a team of professionals who are certainly up for the challenge of receiving guests from around the world.
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IBCS/BSP
Gideon Thaler met (in Geneva) with Mr. Aleksander Popovich, Senior Vice President Industry Distribution and Financial Services, IATA. It was concluded that TAL Aviation will shortly become an IBCS global distributor. Airlines looking to expand their presence in minor markets at an economical rate, will be able to sign up with TAL Aviation to the IBCS IATA program. IBCS should be considered for airlines with a small presence in markets where an initial outlay of larger funds would not be economical.
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New Team Members:
We extend a warm welcome to the newest additions to the TAL Aviation family:
Olivera Andrijasevic - Sales Manager (OA), Belgrade, Serbia
Olga Loginova – Sales Representative, Saint Petersburg, Russia
Polina Chernysh – Sales Representative, Moscow, Russia
Marina Gorbenko – Passenger Sales Agent, Kiev, Ukraine
Ana Maria – Sales Representative, Bucharest, Romania
Natalie Luria – Reservations/Ticketing Agent,Tel Aviv, Israel
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1st Quarter Events:
The following travel trade events are a sample of some of the recent successful projects our teams were involved with in the 1st Quarter 2011:
NOTE: Due to the "heaviness" of inserting pictures into this newsletter, for your convenience and viewing, we will be uploading all pictures of events to a newly created "Events" page, to appear in the revamped Tal Aviation website, launching in June 2011. As from the next newsletter, all event pictures will be just a click away!
- Arkia Launch – Kiev (Aroma Restaurant) Sponsored by Arkia. Held in newly opened Aroma Restaurant, the dinner party was attended by around 200 agents. A musical duet added to the lively atmosphere.
- Arkia Launch – Moscow (Mariott Tverskaya Hotel) Sponsored by Arkia and held at Mariott Tverskaya Hotel, the full program included speeches from Arkia and TAL Aviation executives. Musical entertainment was enjoyed by the 90 agents/wholesalers who participated.
- Niki/Air Berlin Anniversary Party – held in Bucharest to celebrate one year of online service to BUH. The event for the travel trade was held in March at True Club. Niki flies 3 times daily from Mon-Fri,with 1 time daily sevice on Sat and Sun.
- Pegasus (operating out of Turkey) Agent Breakfast Seminar held at Hilton Hotel Bucharest for 75 travel professionals.
- Discover America Roadshows in Malmo, Gothenburg,& Stockholm, American Airlines partial sponsor.
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Upcoming Events:
- Seminar for Cathay Pacific in Kiev was held in April and other regions seminars will be held in May & June.
- American Airlines agent seminar in Oslo (May)
- El Al Travel Agent Seminar in Athens (May)
- Niki/Air Berlin Travel Agent Event in Belgrade (May) to celebrate increasing service from 6 flights per week to 11 flights weekly.
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Technology:
The IT department at TAL Aviation HDQ, has innovated a special “toolbar” implemented on the travel agents computer, and with the click of the mouse, you have access to all items a travel agent would need i.e. passport information, weather, airline companies local phone contacts, etc. This enables TAL Aviation to display our own products in a most visible environment.
This pilot program was very well received in Israel, and is a template for future development, having toolbars in each country in local language, for distribution to the travel trade.
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Trade Shows:
ITB
TAL Aviation Germany (represented by Beate Zwermann and Tom Melzer) hosted a booth at the recent ITB trade show in Berlin. The ITB is the largest travel trade show in the world.
IMTM
TAL Aviation had its own booth highlighting the airlines it represents in Israel at the IMTM travel fair in Tel Aviv. Over 800 travel agents and members of the public came by to receive material.
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Meet The TAL Aviation Team In Poland (from left to right):
Karolina Golanska, Dorota Pregowska, Beata Szostak, Radek Grabski, Dorota Pagowska, Monika Sulicka, Iwona Jaworek.
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