■ DUBAI: Emirates appoints Orhan Abbas as Senior VP for its Southern & Central Africa, Latin American Commercial operations.

Emirates (EK) has appointed Orhan Abbas its Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations, Latin America, Central and Southern Africa. In his new role he will oversee a number of markets, including South Africa, Angola, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia, the Indian Ocean islands Mauritius and Seychelles, and Latin American markets Brazil and Argentina.

A UAE national, Mr Abbas joined Emirates as a management trainee in 1998, and has since held various management and leadership positions both within and outside of the U.A.E.

"I'm very familiar with these markets. Latin America, Central and Southern Africa, are exciting and diverse regions that are enjoying good economic growth. My focus will be to leverage this growth as much as possible and further increase our presence in these markets and make Emirates the airline of choice for travellers," Mr Abbas said.

After completing his management training, he was appointed Country Manager of Tanzania in 2001 and just over two years later moved to manage Emirates commercial operations in Iran. From August 2005 to July 2007, he was based in South Africa where he was responsible for the Southern Africa region, and thereafter moved to Mumbai where he spent five years as Vice-president for India and Nepal. In August last year he was promoted to Senior Vice President for the Americas region, based in Dubai.

He holds a degree in Business Administration from Regents College in Albany in New York.