Paul Verhagen appointed Area Manager Spain & Portugal. Titus Johnson appointed Vice President Sales & Marketing at Air Berlin Americas Inc..Roger de Jager appointed Area Manager Western Europe
airberlin is strengthening its expertise in strategically important foreign markets with three newly created executive positions.

In airberlin’s core market of Spain and Portugal, Paul Verhagen (40) will take on the position of Area Manager Spain & Portugal in Palma de Mallorca from 12th April 2012. In this role Paul Verhagen will be responsible for all airberlin’s commercial activity in the two countries. Verhagen looks back on a career of more than 15 years in the industry, during which he has held a range of executive positions in marketing in various countries. Most recently he was Sales Director Greater China for the Air France-KLM Group leading a team of more than 120 employees.

Since 1st April 2012 Titus Johnson (44) is Vice President Sales & Marketing of the newly-founded Air Berlin Americas Inc. in New York where he will be responsible for all commercial activity in America. Johnson, who was born in the UK, has been working for airberlin since 2006, most recently in the role of Country Manager UK & Ireland. He looks back on a 20-year-long career in the airline industry, during which he has accumulated considerable experience in a range of executive roles in the fields of sales and marketing. Before joining airberlin, Johnson was Airline Sales Director for Sabre.
The position of Area Manager Western Europe is also new since 1st April 2012. This is filled by Rogier de Jager (38), who has already had commercial responsibility for several markets in his role as airberlin’s Area Manager for Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and France, which he took on in December last year. The newly created country cluster “Western Europe” brings together the whole of Western Europe including Great Britain and Ireland and will contribute to a more unified approach to the management of these markets. Roger de Jager worked for several years for the KLM Group where his responsibilities included the area of sales in the Benelux countries and where he was also the project manager for developing the leisure sector.

Paul Gregorowitsch, CCO airberlin, commented on the newly created positions: “airberlin is continuing to expand its presence in important international markets and, with these new executive positions, is creating the human resource base for further growth. With the appointment of Paul Verhagen and our two airberlin colleagues, Titus Johnson and Rogier de Jager, we have a team of high qualified and motivated managers, who will play their part in further developing foreign markets.”

Paul Verhagen, Titus Johnson and Rogier de Jager will all report to Mats Jacobsson, Vice President International Sales airberlin.

airberlin is Germany’s second largest airline. The company has a workforce of 9,200 employees. Each year, airberlin receives over 10 awards for service and quality. The fleet comprises 170 aircraft with an average age of five years, making it one of the most modern fleets in Europe. The airline’s state-of-the-art jets are highly fuel efficient, which contributes toward a long-term reduction in pollution emissions from aircraft. As one of the major European airlines, airberlin flies to 162 destinations in 40 countries. In 2011, over 35 million passengers were transported. Since 20th March 2012, airberlin has been a full member of the global airline alliance oneworld®. airberlin operates codeshare flights with oneworld members American Airlines, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia, Royal Jordanian, S7 and Japan Airlines. In December 2011, airberlin entered into a strategic partnership with Etihad Airways.