Arafa to be head of global area management at Swiss WorldCargo
16 / 02 / 2016
Alexander Arafa has been appointed head of global area management at Swiss WorldCargo.
Arafa, currently head of cabin crew at SWISS, will assume his new duties in June. He succeeds Ashwin Bhat, who became head of Swiss WorldCargo last October.
In his new capacity, Arafa will be in overall charge of the worldwide sales of products and services.
Thomas Klühr, chief executive officer of SWISS, stated: “We are delighted to have appointed a proven executive from within our own ranks to this important position.
“In addition to his extensive sales expertise from his earlier airline career, Alexander also brings the ideal credentials to his new post through the eight years he has spent as the head of our cabin crew corps.”
A German/Egyptian dual national, he began his airline career in Hamburg as an accounting analyst with Northwest Airlines some 33 years ago.
He went on to hold sales positions with Olympic Airways and American Airlines before joining Lufthansa in 1993 as its general manager sales & distribution US, based in New York. Three years later he was called to Frankfurt to become vice president sales strategy.
At the end of 1999 Arafa joined Swissair as head of sales Europe. He was in charge of product development at SWISS from 2001 to 2005, and then served three years as vice president sales Europe before assuming his present position as head of cabin crew in 2008.
Bhat commented: “Alexander’s strong commercial expertise, vast experience and personality, will perfectly complement our current skill set and Swiss WorldCargo culture.“
