Kane Pirie says he will return to travel
Travel Republic CEO Kane Pirie has resigned to take some time out of travel but expects to be back soon.
Staff at Travel Republic were told by email yesterday that Pirie and one of the company’s founders, Chris Waite, are to leave as part of a management shake-up.
Paul Furner, also a founder and managing director between 2003 and the end of 2011, will become CEO.
A statement from the company today said Pirie and Waite are leaving "to explore other opportunities".
In fact, Pirie’s decision was partly for personal reasons, because his six-week-old daughter has been diagnosed with heart problems and is being treated at the Royal Brompton hospital.
Pirie wants to devote some time to fundraising for the hospital, but expects to return to travel in a new venture.
He said: "Travel Republic has been a fabulous experience. I will miss working with the superb team there and I have to warmly thank them for incredible support over many years."
Dnata, a subsidiary of Emirates, bought the controlling interest in Travel Republic – 75% of shares – for an undisclosed sum in December 2011, see previous story.
On leaving, Pirie intimated he never applied to work for Dnata and was looking for new challenges.
Pirie was a member of the ABTA board until November last year when he resigned over the EU Package Travel Directive reform, setting up the Association of Travel Agents (ATA) with others.
It is unclear whether he will continue to be involved in the association.
At Travel Republic, Ian Simmonds will become chief financial officer, Elliott Pritchard chief marketing officer and Adam Gill chief technology officer.
Chris Roche will continue in the role of chief commercial officer and manage international expansion.
Chairman Iain Andrew said: "I would like to thank Kane Pirie and Chris Waite for their roles in bringing Travel Republic to the prominent position that it holds today in the UK travel industry. Their contributions are highly valued and I wish them well for the future," said chairman Iain Andrew.
Travel Republic has been one of the fastest growing agencies in recent years moving towards dynamic packaging using low cost airlines.
It was also found not guilty of breaching ATOL regulations after regulators at the CAA took court action. The CAA dropped the case.
The business was set up in 2003, the brainchild of two university friends; Paul Furner and Chris Waite. Pirie joined in 2005 as finance and operations director.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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