Rory Black appointed British Airways area manager for Levant

Rory, a 33 year old Englishman, who has a highly successful record in over ten years of commercial experience with British Airways both in the UK and overseas, was previously Business Development Manager for Deutsche BA, Area Business Manager Southern Africa for British Airways, and Commercial Planning Manager responsible for all BA commercial activities in sales, marketing and cargo for alliances and subsidiaries.

Rory, who qualified as an accountant with the Chartered Institute of Management Accounting, has a strong record in team building and leadership which has in turn led to improved efficiency and profitability.

With Deutsche BA he managed the strategic planning process and me all his milestones as Year 2000 Project Manager and developed new finance systems linked to other operational systems.

He was responsible for managing business support functions in Southern Africa, along with direct management of the business support team, as well as senior manager of the team designing a new organisational structure for the entire BA African operation.

As Commercial Planning Manager he developed and implemented an on-going tracking mechanism for all commercial activity at a departmental and regional level.

Rory said, "British Airways is leading the way in bringing tourists to the Levant as more people find out about the wealth of fascinating places to visit in the region.

"At the same time, as the market opens up to outsiders, businessmen are starting to arrive here to take up the opportunities for investment and begin operations here.

"The Levant has a very exciting future, and British Airways will be part of it."

Rory will oversee and the British Airways Levant operation, which features a linked service, with five weekly flights between Amman and London, four of them going via Beirut, eight weekly flights between Beirut and London, and five flights between Damascus and London, with this schedule providing for three connecting flights between Aleppo and London.

The routes are covered by Airbus A320 and A321 aircraft, with Club Europe and Euro Traveller cabins, operated by British Airways franchise partner British Mediterranean Airways.