PRIVATEFLY.COM APPOINTS RICHARD CARRICK AS CHAIRMAN -Travel industry heavyweight to head the board at award-winning private jet platform-

PrivateFly.com, the online private jet booking network, today announces that Richard Carrick is to join its board as chairman. Carrick has previously held general management and marketing roles at MyTravel, Saga Holidays and Forte Hotels and was most recently CEO of Hoseasons, which was sold in March 2010. He brings over thirty five years’ travel industry experience to the chairman role for PrivateFly and underpins its strategy of integrating the private jet booking platform with the travel trade.

Carrick replaces previous PrivateFly chairman David Scowsill, who was appointed as president & CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) late last year. Scowsill will remain as an advisor to PrivateFly’s board, which also includes former UK managing director of lastminute.com John Bevan as non-executive director.

The announcement follows PrivateFly’s win earlier this month at the Flight Global annual aviation awards, where it was named ‘Website Of The Year’ for its “potential of changing Business Air charter in the same way iTunes changed the music industry”. The company is seeking additional investment for expansion following its successful first phase fundraising in 2010.

Commenting on Carrick’s appointment, PrivateFly’s CEO and co-founder, Adam Twidell, said: “We are delighted to welcome Richard as our new chairman; he brings invaluable experience, skill and authority to our board. His significant marketing expertise will help accelerate our strategy to integrate with the travel industry, and he brings a wealth of corporate contacts and management experience to support our expansion plans.”

Richard Carrick added: “I am very excited about joining the PrivateFly board at such a pivotal growth stage for this innovative business. PrivateFly has the ability to engage the travel trade via its agent-friendly platform, as well as driving price transparency, usability and efficiency for private aviation customers and aircraft operators.”

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About PrivateFly.com:

PrivateFly is an online booking network that makes it quicker, easier and more cost effective to arrange private jet charter.

With over 2700 operators registered worldwide, PrivateFly is the only online aggregator for private jet charter in Europe.

PrivateFly combines online efficiency and transparency with offline expertise to offer a full-service VIP charter service to direct customers and partners. The bespoke software has been created in-house specifically to meet the needs of charter customers and operators. In 2010 PrivateFly launched the world’s first iPhone application to provide instant private jet pricing on a mobile phone.

PrivateFly.com was recently awarded Website of The Year in Flight International’s ‘Webbies’ awards which recognise online excellence across the whole of the aviation industry - the judges describing it as “the iTunes” of aviation. It was also announced as one of the Smarta 100 companies 2010, by a judging panel including Dragon’s Den’s Deborah Meaden and other leading entrepreneurs, such as Bebo founder Michael Birch.

Founded in 2007, PrivateFly is based in St Albans, Hertfordshire and in 2010 secured first round investment funding to expand the business within the UK and selected international markets.

For further information, interviews or imagery, please contact:

Katrina Suppiah
Publicité Ltd
T: 020 8543 6582
E: k.suppiah@publicite.co.uk

PrivateFly,
Censeo House,
6 St Peters St,
St Albans,
AL1 3LF, UK.

This release was published on openPR.