Senior Appointments @ Air Partner

Air Partner has promoted Celine Shabbas to Director of UK Trading, just three months after she was invited to join the company’s Group Operating Board.

 Celine has taken over the role from Philip Mathews who has moved to the USA to focus on this key growth area for Air Partner’s business. As President of Air Partner Inc. he is now based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with responsibility for executing the group’s growth strategy in North America.

Celine joined Air Partner in 2002 as a member of the in-house 24-hr Operations team based at the group’s London-Gatwick headquarters. In 2004 she was selected to undertake an intensive two-year internal cross-division management trainee course. In May 2006, Celine was appointed European Marketing Manager and in November 2009 was promoted to Director of Group Marketing with overall responsibility for marketing and PR across Air Partner’s 20 offices worldwide.

Mark Briffa, Air Partner CEO, said, “In her new people-focussed role, Celine’s main areas of responsibility are service delivery, client retention, new business generation and staff progression. She is a popular and dedicated team player with a strong track record at Air Partner and will bring a fresh business perspective to the Board.”

Celine graduated in Medical Biochemistry (BSc Hons) from Glasgow University in 1998 and spent two years working in the science industry prior to switching career to follow her growing interest in aviation, accepting a role in air traffic control at London Biggin Hill Airport. While there, Celine embarked on her Private Pilot’s Licence.

British-born Philip Mathews graduated from Buckingham University in 1989 with a BA (Hons) in Politics, Economics and Law and has worked in the aviation industry for more than 20 years. He joined Air Partner in 2002 and was appointed President of the US business in 2003. In 2008 he returned to the UK to head the UK trading division before returning to the US in May this year following the management restructure. Immediately prior to joining Air Partner, Philip was Vice President of a leading US charter broker, heading both US and UK passenger charter operations.

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