AIRASIA Expedia (AAE), the joint venture between AirAsia and the Expedia group, has appointed Kathleen Tan as CEO.
In her new role, Tan will oversee the Expedia brand, AirAsiaGo and Backick OTA businesses in South-east Asia, India, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
TTG Asia e-Daily understands that former CEO Dan Lynn, who was vice president and managing director of Expedia Asia-Pacific before moving to Singapore, is leaving his current role to pursue other opportunities involving start-ups.
Tony Fernandes, AirAsia Group CEO, said: “Our focus for the next five years is ancillary and adjacent business. The potential of AAE is enormous. Having Kathleen driving the business gives me huge encouragement and I am sure AAE and the OTA industry will escalate tremendously when Kathleen gets to work her unique style of brand-building, sales and profits growth.”
Tan previously served as AirAsia’s group head of commercial and senior vice president of China since 2004, managing AirAsia’s top-line performance and overseeing up to 15 departments across the six AirAsia-branded airlines. She also managed the AirAsiaGo OTA business prior to it being transferred to AAE.
Meanwhile, Siegtraund Teh will take over Tan’s role as group chief commercial officer. A core member of the AirAsia regional team, she has played a senior level commercial role.
