Jobs on the line as Opodo restructures
Redundancies are likely as part of a shake-up at Opodo.
A formal consultation process is underway with the aim to inform all employees likely to be affected by the end of February, the Amadeus-owned online travel company said.
An unspecified number of jobs within the Opodo central team may be made redundant as a result of the restructure.
The job losses come as part of a plan to become a more decentralised entity with stronger local presence.
The company is to focus on a more decentralised model whereby each market will assume complete responsibility for all product, operational and commercial objectives as well as for sales and marketing initiatives.
“This will allow each market to react to changing conditions, quickly and effectively, adding additional local content and products where desirable,” a statement said.
Technology will continue to be controlled centrally at the London office where investment will continue to be made in Opodo’s booking engine. The support functions of finance, HR, legal and communications will also remain centrally based.
A new executive team will consist of CEO Ignacio Martos, IT director Sam Jabbour and a yet to be appointed finance director, all based in the UK, as well as directors responsible for each of the key markets – Peter Carlsson (Scandinavia), Petra Friedmann (France), Thomas Reiter (Germany) and Roberto Riccio (Italy).
A UK director has yet to be appointed. In the interim head of operations Caroline Noble will become acting UK director.
Martos said: “Opodo has achieved great success to date to become one of the leading pan-European online travel brands operating in nine markets and with sales of around €1.2 billion for 2006.
“However, the internet is a fast developing medium and in order to be able to react immediately to changing needs and conditions, it is imperative that our markets are able to achieve a high degree of flexibility and autonomy.
“This new structure should better allow us to continue to provide our customers and partners with an excellent online travel service and to deliver a consistently improving financial performance.”
Phil Davies
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