Press Release

Issued by .

November 24, 2009

Assistair, Spain's expanding Fixed Base Operator, has appointed Christine Sastre as Head of Business Development with immediate effect.  Based in Palma, Mallorca and Christine reports to CEO and Assistair Group founder Catherine Gaisenband. The role is new within the company and reflects Assistair's commitment to provide a personalised service to its business aviation and charter airline customers."

"In these challenging times we need a department responsible for having very close contact with our clients. We want to really understand their needs and make sure we fulfil them, " said Gaisenband. "Christine has excellent commercial skills, understands Assistair, and is very personable, making her the perfect choice for this role," she added.

Christine will serve as the conduit between the operator, handling company and the flight originator, so ensuring that all commercial operations run smoothly. Her responsibilities include generating and eveloping new business contacts by contacting prospective charter clients, and providing them with information about the services available from the five Assistair FBOs in Palma, Barcelona, Valencia, Ibiza and Gerona. Other responsibilities will include covering handling requests, managing the operations for the flight, slot requests, catering requests and ensuring everything is prepared for the client's arrival or departure. She will be in regular contact with the destination/originating airport to guarantee a seamless service.

French-born Christine moved from her native La Ciotat, near Marseilles, to Mallorca in 1988 and originally worked as a tour guide. She joined the Assistair Group in 2005. Originally based in the charter operations department managing airline charter flights from countries as diverse as Russia, the Netherlands and Belarus, she moved to her new position in late October and welcomes the challenge.

"I enjoy being in direct contact with the clients as it helps me fully understand their requirements. True we are in difficult times so it is harder to encourage people to change their buying habits. However, we find that if we can offer competitive pricing, combined with a high quality of service, tailored to their needs, clients will return to use Assistair again," Christine said.

Along with her Assistair knowledge Christine speaks fluent English, Spanish, French and Catalan so is well qualified to be the centre of communications for the clients.

"Knowing that we have someone who is multi-lingual, understands our business, and can listen to client needs means I can focus on developing other areas of the business," says Gaisenband.  "We're delighted to have Christine in this role and know that it will add real value to our client services."