Route Development Manager

Job Purpose

Responsible for New Route Development for Air Arabia Hubs; Network expansion; Building New Route business plans; Evaluation of Route PNL and Station Set up.

Key Result Responsibilities

1.    Constantly reviews and identifies new route opportunities for all Hubs to support objectives of growth, expansion, and incremental revenue.
2.    Conducts research, competitor analysis and liaises with internal stakeholders like Sales, Finance etc and external stakeholders like Airport & Tourism Boards etc requesting for relevant data to prepare and support business cases. 
3.    Evaluates projected PNL over 1-to-3-year horizon for new routes and makes recommendations to Management for selection/deselection, frequency, yield etc and overall business plan.
4.    Developing relationship with tourism boards and other governmental bodies to support route development initiative
5.    Introducing potential GSAs, OTAs and negotiates with Airport’s on parking / landing & marketing incentives for new route development . 
6.    Liaises with concerned departments / stakeholders to plan the launch of route. This includes network team for Airport Authority/ CAA approvals and slots, marketing team for launch campaigns, Operations, Finance etc
7.    Works closely with Commercial team over one year from route launch to ensure business case targets are delivered. This includes monitoring POS Country contributions / route yield & load factor are as per business plan, investigate reasons for changes and disseminates information to all stakeholders making recommendations.
8.    Recommends and implements various strategies in accordance with company plans to develop the traffic for underperforming routes as required.
9.    Provide market data as well as competitive insights on market portfolio when required.
10.    Performs other ad-hoc duties as required.
 

Key Result Responsibilities - Continued

Qualifications (Academic, training, languages)

• Bachelor’s Degree in management, Commerce, Sales, Marketing or equivalent.
• Additional qualification in Aviation/IATA/Tourism is a plus.
• Proficient in computer applications and usage of Microsoft word, Excel, Power Point.
• Fluent in English Language (Arabic where necessary).
• Valid driving license in the country of employment is preferred.

Work Experience

• 7+ years of experience in airline industry out of which minimum 2 years handling a similar role; experience with low-cost airline is an advantage.
• Possesses a track record of increasing and sustaining sales growth and profitability.
• Proven skills in researching, analyzing data, identifying pitfalls and recommending cost-effective solutions.
• Established rapport with clients and government authorities, etc.
• Cost-oriented, possesses effective persuasive sales and marketing skills and techniques.
• Employs a balance of technical expertise, and interpersonal relations to execute new initiatives that support company’s objectives.
• Demonstrates the ability to contribute and successfully deliver against business strategy and set KPIs.
• Capable of understanding market needs, trends, and planning accordingly.
• Customer oriented performer with excellent customer relationship skills.
• Attention to both results and details.