Soskin steps up

David Soskin, chief executive of Cheapflights Ltd, is joining the panel for the inaugural TravelMole Fast Conference. Mr Soskin will be a valuable addition to the event by providing a perspective from the online agent, a growing force in the industry. TravelMole Fast Conferences are high profile debates on the travel industry’s hottest topics – the first debate on March 16 is entitled ‘Up in the Air – The Future of Selling Flights’. It focusses on the future relationship between airlines, travel agents and GDSs. The debate tackles the crucial issue of air ticket distribution and asks what is the future for the trade, airlines and GDSs. The event comes amid commission cutting by airlines and GDSs dramatically rethinking their commercial models. Mr Soskin joins a panel comprising the following high profile industry figures: *Ian Heywood, British Airways head of corporate sales. *Ian Reynolds, ABTA chief executive. *David Brown, Sabre UK, Ireland & Nordic region director. *Martin Tyler-Bennett, Worldspan EMEA and Asia airline distribution, hosting & IT solutions director. *Richard Lovell, Guild of Business Travel Agents chairman and Carlson Wagonlit executive vice-president EMEA. Moderator for the debate is Jeremy Skidmore, a regular TravelMole columnist and former editor of Travel Weekly. The launch event will be staged at the Thistle Hotel, Bloomsbury in London on March 16 from 16.00-18.00. The standard delegate fee is £175 plus VAT with £50 off for the first 10 registrations. But travel agents can now buy a ticket at the reduced price of £99 plus VAT. TravelMole’s second Fast Conference on the subject of sustainable tourism is planned for May 11 in London. Register online, call +44 (0)20 7691 3292 or email [email protected].