Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways has appointed Karthik Radhakanthan as Head of Sales and Country Lead, Sri Lanka. He will take over from Vishnu Rajendran who has assumed another role in the organization.
With over 21 years of experience covering various portfolios in the aviation industry, Radhakanthan has served Cathay Pacific for over 12 years in senior level roles.
Prior to his Sri Lanka posting, he was the Regional Cargo Services Manager for South Asia, Middle East and Africa for five years handling regional operations for cargo, safety, contracts, compliance, regulatory affairs and quality.
He has also served the airline as Area Cargo Manager for South and East India for a period of seven years handling cargo sales and services, freight operations, marketing and the expansion of the airline’s services into new airports such as Bangalore, Kolkata and Hyderabad.
Radhakanthan’s extensive commercial experience and successful track record in the South Asian aviation industry also includes his role at Jet Airways for five years where he was responsible for passenger and airport handling, reservations, ticketing, flight handling and station supervision.
Preceding this posting he was the Area Manager, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka for Spencer Travels, the General Sales Agent for Qatar Airways Cargo. In this role he handled freight operations, cargo sales, sales agent business development and the expansion of cargo systems into airports such as Bangkok, Cebu, Jakarta, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.
Commenting on his new role, Radhakanthan said, “I am delighted to have been appointed Country Lead for Sri Lanka. Cathay Pacific has a long standing relationship with the Sri Lanka and will continue to successfully service this beautiful country with the support of our travel and trade fraternity. One of my key priorities in Sri Lanka will definitely be to cater to the changing requirements of our valued customers and stakeholders and provide our customers with the finest travel experience when they fly with Cathay Pacific.”
Born in Chennai, Radhakanthan is a graduate of Loyola College, Chennai where he obtained a Bachelors in Science with majors in Statistics. He also undertook a Small Industries Management programme at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai. He is passionate about airplanes, adores pets, enjoys sport, loves hiking and explore cities on foot.