Sales executive - sales manager

My main responsibilities as Sales Executive were to participate in the making of Emirates Airline yearly business and commercial planning for Portugal as well as managing, against financial targets, Emirates corporate portfolio in Portugal, including American Express, BCD and Carlson Wagonlit and 300+ IATA travel agents as well as OTAs. An important part of this position was to identify new corporate potential deals and strategically define and implement pricing, and marketing actions to potentiate sales as well as develop underperforming markets where Lisbon could feed traffic into.

Internal liaison with Dubai was core to this position’s responsibility through regional meetings with the European VP as well as Head Office reporting and constant proposals. 

The Portuguese commercial team didn’t have a sales manager until late 2015 and therefore all the sales manager’s responsibilities were performed by the country manager and the 2 sales executives, which gave me the opportunity to be involved and participant in many of the strategic decisions affecting the Lisbon station, both commercial and operational. As an example, it was the Lisbon commercial team who appraised several different options and proactively proposed the Dubai – Lisbon - Dubai flight schedule change, preparing and presenting the financial, operational and passenger numbers’ impact. This proposal contributed to the Lisbon service being changed a couple of months later with great positive impact on sales and feeding traffic which enabled the Lisbon route to become more profitable and sustainable. 

The Lisbon commercial team also had the honour of winning the Chairman’s Award for Sales Excellence as the best Commercial Team in the World 2013, awarded by Emirates Airline Chairman His Highness Sheik Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum in a ceremony held in Dubai in November 2013. 

Due to my previous background and professional relations with the Portuguese Civil Aviation Authority, I have also supported Emirates outstation opening at Lisbon Airport in 2012.

This position’s backbone was the development and implementation of market business case studies and route performance analysis to support Lisbon´s marketing plan. This role included information gathering, market research and route performance analysis according to several predetermined KPIs, presentations to airlines and report making, including Routes conferences, liaison with potential airlines as well as CAA’s, tourism and all other airport stakeholders, business negotiations with both airlines and airports and key account management.

I was responsible for “Lisbon Airport 2011-2015” marketing plan chapters on route development, market strategic positioning and potential new opportunities not being explored by Lisbon airport.

Seven new routes were opened in 2011 and six in 2012, including Lisbon’s first link to the Middle East in Dubai by Emirates. There were also several new routes and frequencies being negotiated and discussed in the pipeline to start in 2013.

This position enabled me to gain a broader vision and a more strategic approach to the aviation business. Its main objective was to find new business opportunities, test and implement innovative organization and working processes to support the group’s sustainability.

My main task was to define and implement the international market strategy, identifying new unexplored markets, conduct market potential assessments and propose the development of the appropriate services and products according to the findings. An important part of this role was to guarantee good local relations through political and local business lobbying as well as competitors’ products and services analysis and monitoring.

I have developed the business plan and fully implemented the process for the expansion, both commercial and operational, of Gestair’s base in Milan, Italy which is totally operational now. I was also responsible for the business plan making of Gestair’s branch in São Paulo, Brazil.

This role reported to Gestair’s MD and I had 12 people reporting directly to me.

This role´s first responsibility was the creation of the Centre of Aviation English with the making of ICAO Level4 management and organizational procedural manuals and subsequent approval and certification by the Portuguese Civil Aviation Authority as well as the definition and implementation of the commercial and marketing strategies for the testing and training divisions.

The Centre signed contracts for the training and testing with more than 14 airlines including TAP Portugal and NetJets, and was approved by several CAAs from Portugal, Italy, United Kingdom, Brazil, Switzerland, Netherlands, etc, where more than 2000 pilots have been certified with the mandatory ICAO English Level4.

Set up and management of Mala Voadora, which manages apartments in Lisbon for the short rental market. In 2014 I have set up Mala Voadora, with 1 apartment and currently it manages 12 apartments, all having achieved the super host status on Airbnb. Mala voadora also offers cleaning and apartment management services to third parties, currently supporting the acquisition, renovation, decoration and full management of apartments, including pricing and revenue management, in Lisbon for Chinese, Brazilian and French customers. I´m currently managing a small team of 5 people.

Courses taken:

i.	Salesforce
ii.	Key Account Management

iii.	Strategic Sales and Negotiation

iv.	Pricing and Revenue management

Diploma of Higher Education in Aviation Management