Abbi Hiller on Mon, Dec 10, 2007
Concord, Mass., December 10, 2007 – Linear Air, the leading air-taxi service that is transforming regional air travel by providing affordable point-to-point jet charter, announced today that travel industry veteran John Ackermann has joined the company as Chief Strategist.
Ackermann will draw upon his extensive experience creating travel management solutions for enterprise customers, enabling Linear Air to offer corporate business travelers unprecedented access to affordable point-to-point regional jet charter.
Ackermann was a member of the original team responsible for transforming American Airline’s investment in technology into a strategic marketing and distribution tool, resulting in SABRE, the airline industry’s first global reservation system.
Ackermann subsequently founded and led e-Travel, the 1st online travel enterprise management platform through which individuals in corporations could use PCs, laptops, and Web-enabled handheld devices to arrange travel in accordance with corporate guidelines. e-Travel created the industry’s first direct links between large corporations and major suppliers, driving down distribution costs for travel suppliers and lowering travel costs for corporations. Ackermann grew e-Travel from concept to industry leader, forging relationships with American Airlines, Delta Airlines, Continental Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Hertz Rental Car, National Rental Car, AMTRAK, Pegasus, SATO Travel and Rosenbluth International. Representative customers include Fidelity, Philip Morris, NCR, Sapient, American General, Ingersoll Rand, Unisys, and Applied Materials. e-Travel was acquired by Oracle Corporation and subsequently operated as a separate business unit.
“Business travelers are fed up with the atrocious service standards of the airlines and are eager for alternatives,” said William Herp, Linear Air President and CEO. “Using new technology aircraft, Linear Air offers the solution – jet charter at half the cost of traditional charter and, with several colleagues traveling together, at a total cost approaching full coach airlines’ fares.” Herp continued, “We are very fortunate to have John join our team. John brings the experience required to develop the tools and processes to enable business travelers to take advantage of Linear Air.”
Mr. Ackermann commented on first steps in his new role, “We will help enterprise customers figure out their true travel patterns – not just major airport city pairs, but end- to-end, taking into account the ultimate departure and destination cities, car rental,overnights and the like. With this data and the tools to interpret, we will reveal to enterprise customers the compelling value of point-to-point jet charter utilizing Linear Air’s new and radically more efficient jet aircraft, flying their own schedule between less-crowded airports closer to their ultimate departure and destination.”
About Linear Air
Linear Air, based in Concord, MA, is transforming the air travel industry by providing regional point-to-point jet charter with unprecedented access and affordability.
The company flies the revolutionary 3 passenger Eclipse 500 business jet and 8 passenger Cessna Grand Caravan turboprop, cutting the cost of jet charter in half and offering a total cost which rivals full coach airlines fares when several individuals travel together.
The company currently offers business and leisure travelers access to more than 500 cities in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Canada and Caribbean from its permanent bases in the Boston, New York and Washington D.C. areas, and seasonal base in Puerto Rico.
Linear Air is a FAA certificated commercial air carrier and maintains a Gold safety rating from ARG/US, the leading independent safety auditor in the aviation industry. For more information about Linear Air or to book a flight, please visit www.LinearAir.com or call 781-860-9696 or 1-877-2-LINEAR.
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