With 24 airlines and 144 visitors, the annual Airline Express kicked off on Monday evening with a sold-out meeting. As always, the Schiphol building at Schiphol was the setting for the first meeting. According to tradition, visitors, mainly travel agents, could first sit down at an Indonesian buffet. This was followed by presentations of 15 minutes each where visitors could speed date with representatives of the 24 participating airlines. The event is an initiative of the Passenger Airline Sales Representatives Association (Pasra). At the beginning of the evening, we said goodbye to Margreeth Kappert, who recently left ITA Airways as country manager for the Netherlands. After 23 years in the travel industry, Kappert has found a job outside the sector. This means that she has also stepped down as chairman of Pasra. 
On behalf of Schiphol, with whom Kappert has always worked closely as Pasra chairman, Joery Strijtveen (Head of Aviation Partnerships at Schiphol) presented her with a bouquet of flowers and a unique Schiphol puzzle. At the same time, two new Pasra board members were greeted. André van der Sluis (country manager at GSA Discover the World/Country & Sales Manager for JetBlue Benelux) is the new chairman of Pasra, succeeding Margreeth Kappert. Yvonne Halderman has been appointed as general board member of Pasra. She is sales manager at Aviareps Benelux and is active for the German company Condor, which is making a name for itself in the Dutch market. The Airline Express has five meetings elsewhere in the Netherlands until 23 April (Pasra.nl). Photo: The board of Pasra (from left to right): Marlies Bokx (secretary), the new chairman André van der Sluis, the former chairman Margreeth Kappert, the new general board member Yvonne Halderman and Marcin van Gijlswijk (treasurer).
