ATLANTA, Sept. 11, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) today announced the creation of a new officer-level position, Vice President of Loyalty Programs, to support Delta's efforts to further provide high-value, world-class loyalty and partnership programs for the airline's 42 million SkyMiles members worldwide, and the appointment of Jeff Robertson to this new role.
"The creation of this key, new position reflects the continued importance of the SkyMiles program to Delta and our valued customers," said Lee Macenczak, executive vice president of Sales and Marketing. "As we continue to move toward closing the merger with Northwest, we anticipate even greater opportunities to grow the program for our expanded base of members worldwide while improving its revenue and profit performance for the company. Under Jeff's leadership, the SkyMiles program has continued to make significant, industry-leading advances and progress while simultaneously becoming an award-winning customer favorite."
Robertson, 40, previously served as managing director of SkyMiles. He is also responsible for co-leading integration efforts toward combining the Northwest WorldPerks and Delta SkyMiles programs to create the world's largest airline loyalty program. In addition, Robertson oversees all domestic and international frequent flier alliances, the Delta SkyMiles/American Express co-branded credit card, all program partnerships, the Medallion Program and elite benefits, award travel and SkyMiles program technology. Robertson joined the airline in 2002 as director of Customer Insight and Analytics, responsible for corporate CRM objectives, Marketing Research and Customer Analytics.
Prior to Delta, Robertson held various management positions at McKinsey & Company, American Airlines and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Robertson holds an MBA with a concentration in Marketing from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, and a BS in Accounting from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind.
The award-winning Delta SkyMiles program offers members multiple mileage-earning opportunities when flying Delta, Delta Shuttle(r), the Delta Connection(r) carriers, Delta AirElite(r) and other SkyTeam(r) airlines. Additional mileage-building opportunities are offered through more than 100 partners such as the Delta SkyMiles Credit Card from American Express, participating hotels, car rental companies, the SkyMiles Store, restaurants, SkyMilesShopping.com, floral and gift retailers and more. Now in its 27th year, SkyMiles is one of the longest-running and most successful loyalty programs in the travel industry. It was named "Best Domestic Frequent Flyer program" for 2007 and 2008 by readers of Executive Traveler magazine and "Best Frequent Flyer Program" for 2006 and 2007 by Business Traveler magazine. The program also received top honors for "Best Bonus Promotion" from InsideFlyer magazine at the 2007 Freddie Awards.
Delta Air Lines operates service to more worldwide destinations than any airline with Delta and Delta Connection flights to 290 destinations in 60 countries. Delta has added more international capacity than any major U.S. airline during the last two years and is the leader across the Atlantic with flights to 44 trans-Atlantic markets. To Latin America and the Caribbean, Delta offers 288 weekly flights to 42 destinations. Delta's marketing alliances also allow customers to earn and redeem SkyMiles on more than 16,000 flights offered by SkyTeam and other partners. Delta is a founding member of SkyTeam, a global airline alliance that provides customers with extensive worldwide destinations, flights and services. Including its SkyTeam and worldwide codeshare partners, Delta offers flights to 500 worldwide destinations in 105 countries. Customers can check in for flights, print boarding passes, check bags and flight status at delta.com.
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