Haemorrhage of Thomas Cook directors continues
Thomas Cook product and aviation director for scheduled business David Robinson is the latest senior executive to announce he is leaving the company.
Robinson was product and commercial director of Gold Medal, which was acquired by Thomas Cook in 2008. He had been with the company for more than 20 years, having established its Airline Network brand in 1991.
At Thomas Cook, he is responsible for the purchasing of over £500m of product including aviation, car, hotel and ancillary products for Thomas Cook Signature and Gold Medal, reporting to deputy managing director of scheduled business Steve Barrass.
Among his key achievements listed on the social networking site Linked In, Robinson includes restructuring Thomas Cook’s product department to increase efficiencies, cutting costs by 10%, and re-negotiating all major airline commercial deals increasing the revenue delivered from these deals by 10%.
He is also credited with introducing preferred hotel partner policies, which delivered new revenue streams.
He states he "maintained the required margin through difficult trading" and "introduced new commercial reporting tools to increase visibility of margins and profit to the business".
A Thomas Cook spokesman said Robinson had decided to leave the business but would stay until Christmas.
Robinson is the sixth senior executive to leave since new chief executive Harriet Green joined Thomas Cook at the end of July but the spokesman said, unlike some of the other departures, Robinson’s was nothing to do with any company restructure. "David has decided to leave, it’s mutual and amicable," he said.
Barrass said: "Thomas Cook Scheduled Business has come a long way since we merged with Gold Medal back in 2008, and David has played a big part in developing the product strategy. We’d like to thank David for his contribution and we wish him well in the future."
Thomas Cook UK and Ireland chief executive Ian Ailles and independent business chief executive Phil Aird-Mash announced last week they would be leaving the company end of the year. Chief commercial officer Neil Morris, chief financial officer Michelle MacMahon and Thomas Cook Sport managing director Danny Talbot all resigned in October. Talbot will join Kempster, a sponsorship activiation agency, at the end of the year.
By Linsey McNeill
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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