Cathay Pacific appoints new sales and marketing manager in NZ

Vanessa Traille has been appointed Sales and Marketing Manager for Cathay Pacific Airways, New Zealand and Pacific Islands, replacing Mark Pirihi who has been appointed Country Manager in New Zealand.

Vanessa joined Cathay Pacific in May 2004 as an account executive and her most recent position was Assistant Manager, Passenger Sales in New Zealand for the airline.

Vanessa was brought up in East Coast Bays, Auckland and attended Long Bay College. Her previous employment includes two stints at United Airlines, and a brief period at Walshes World, when the company was a general sales agent for United Airlines. She also spent three years in London, working as a PA for companies as diverse as Marks and Spencer and Clubhaus PLC.

Vanessa is excited about her new role and says there have been many changes at Cathay Pacific New Zealand team during the past 18 months, along with a move to modern new offices in Parnell.

“I believe a strong team is at the centre of any successful business,” said Vanessa.

“The Sales and Marketing team in Auckland has seen a number of positive changes in areas of staff development. Alongside that, our Head Office continues to stretch us in terms of providing increased revenue targets year on year and having a strong local team is essential to achieving these goals.”

She acknowledges that the travel industry has become a very competitive environment, especially for travel agents.

“The way we used to do things 20 years ago is completely different to the environment now with electronic ticketing and GDS revenue management systems. At Cathay Pacific, our focus is to provide a real point of difference through high service delivery standards to all our customers from our New Zealand based sales team.”

Vanessa said she was looking forward to Cathay Pacific introducing a B777 aircraft during the coming peak summer season and also the anticipated arrival of the new A350 aircraft in 2016.

“The new aircraft featuring a new Business and Economy Class product is going to be very well received by our team, not to mention our customers!”

Country Manager, Mark Pirihi, said that Cathay Pacific was delighted to promote Vanessa to the role. 

“Vanessa has been with Cathay Pacific for 11 years, and is well respected by the trade, and by our regular travellers. Her energy and knowledge will be extremely valuable for our continued success in the New Zealand market.”