Travis Christ has been named president and managing director for the Americas for Travelport GDS. Christ’s mandate is to lead and expand the Travelport’s GDS business activities throughout the U.S., Canada, and Central and South America.
In this senior leadership role, Christ is responsible for further enhancing Travelport’s business relationships with travel agency subscribers, supplier customers and technology partners, as well as holding overall responsibility for the performance of the region. Based in Atlanta, he will report to Armin Meier, chief commercial officer for Travelport GDS, when his appointment takes effect on October 20.
Travis brings a unique blend of business qualities, having both an
analytical mindset and the ability to forge partnerships, which
together make for a great fit with Travelport,” said Meier. “Within
the travel industry Travis has a reputation for finding creative
solutions and critical alliances that lead to successful outcomes for
all parties. The addition of Travis to the Travelport team clearly
demonstrates our commitment to bring refreshing change to the travel
distribution model.”
Christ joins Travelport from US Airways, where he held various roles of increasing responsibility since 1995. Christ most recently served as the vice president for marketing, sales and distribution, where his work ranged across many fields complimentary to Travelport’s lines of business. This includes responsibility for new business development, corporate and agency sales, multi-channel product distribution, and US Airways Vacations. He held similar roles at America West Airlines and was responsible for the integration of the marketing, sales and distribution functions during the 2005 merger with US Airways. Christ was also responsible for US Airways’ consumer marketing, loyalty and sales analysis divisions.
Previously, Christ was director of capacity planning at America West, with responsibility for optimization of airline profitability through economic analysis of the airline fleet and schedule. Prior to that, he held positions within scheduling and government affairs at Continental Airlines in Houston and in airport services with American Airlines in Miami and Washington, D.C.
In related news Travelport GDS said Kathy Fitzpatrick will continue to drive subscriber sales in the Americas and will report to Christ. Flo Lugli, who had stepped in to lead the Americas region on an interim basis since April, will continue to report to Meier and have responsibility for the Travelport GDS global strategy for leisure, car and hotel and provide support to global business operations.
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