Travelport has kicked off its 2017 Middle East and south Asia operations strongly with the announcement of the broadening of its management team.

Rick Saggar joins Travelport in the role of commercial director for India and Sri Lanka. 

An innovative and seasoned airline and travel industry executive, Saggar joins Travelport from Flynas, having spent part of his early career in Travelport UK.

Following the announcement that IndiGo signed its first ever GDS agreement with Travelport late last year, Saggar’s primary focus will be working with Travelport’s distributor in India, ITQ, to drive the Travelport business forward for this strategic sub-region.

Kathryn Wallington has been appointed to the role of country manager for the United Arab Emirates.

With almost 12 years Travelport experience, Wallington joins the UAE team from Travelport’s UK headquarters in Langley where she most recently headed up business development for southern Europe and north Africa.

She takes over the role from Ghulam Al Balooshi who - having driven the team in achieving great success in the region during his tenure as UAE country manager - will remain on the Travelport MESA management team with a clear focus on Bahrain.

The appointments come following the announcement of Matthew Powell to the role of managing director in the Middle East and south Asia late last year.

Powell said; “These changes will bring a new zeal and focus to our MESA regional team as we work to enable travel providers and their evolving technologies to deliver the widest choice of relevant content to travel providers and travellers in the region.

“Our 2016 successes and new strategic partnerships are testament to our product leadership and superior customer engagement; this expanded and more focused MESA management team will allow us to drive this success forward in 2017.”