Sofianos – the specialist strategist

WINGS Travel
Management is
moving its head
offices to London. The
company started from
humble beginnings on the
roof of what ceo, Tony
Sofianos, calls a “café
supermarket” owned by his
grandad. Acropolis Travel,
as it was known back in
1992, was born out of
Tony’s desire to be his own
boss.
He recalls the moment
he made the life-changing
decision. It was a normal
day at the office; Tony was
in the boardroom waiting
for a meeting to start
and decided to give his
girlfriend in London a call.
She didn’t answer. Soon
after, his boss enquired
about the call and Tony
confessed. It was a small
incident but simple enough
for the businessman to
decide he needed more
autonomy in his career.
He and his family then
decided to open their own
travel business catering
specifically for the Greek
leisure market. Tony’s mom
had worked at Sabena for
15 years as PA for industry
icon, Izy Etkin. “It was
under his mentorship that
my love for travel began,”
says Tony.
“Within two years we
realised we couldn’t do
leisure travel any more
and we started booking
travel for two of the small
corporate companies that I
had audited.”
Tony had started his
career as an accountant.
He initially wanted to
become an engineer, but
failed English HG in his
final year at high school.
“It was probably one
of the biggest lessons
of my life.” After high
school Tony did a diploma
in accounting and also
rewrote his English HG
exam. This allowed him
to get into university and
complete his degree.
Tony says the experience
taught him resilience and
determination. “If you fail,
you can’t sit back.”
Around 1997 Wings
opened its first big office
in Sandton and it was at
the same time that the
business found its feet
and discovered the gas
and oil industry.
Soon after, Wings
applied for exchange
control approval through
the Reserve Bank and
became the first agency
to introduce offshore and
marine fares in the travel
business, says Tony.
In 2000 the company
opened offices in London
and over the next 15 years
grew to become specialists
in the oil and gas sector.
Learn to specialise!
Tony says he realised
Wings needed to
differentiate itself from
other agencies to be
successful. “All the
megas ensure they
own operations in the
developed countries and
then work with partner
networks in developing
nations. We have adopted
the inverse of that
strategy and own and
control everything we do in
countries like Angola and
Brazil.”
Wings also employs
a different approach to
booking travel. “We focus
on being a very high-touch
business,” he says.
He gives the example of
how Wings manages the
travel of a big security
company that transports
troops from Fiji and
Australia into Afghanistan.
“With something like this,
visas can be a nightmare,”
he says. There is a greater
focus on ensuring that
these people remain
mobile and that there are
sufficient support services
available to them, he says.
The company is currently
exploring the possibility
of another specialisation:
either assisting in
the mobilisation of
medical evacuations
and repatriations or the
relocation of corporate
employees.
Moving house
“London is the centre of
the universe for me,” says
Tony. “There’s a reason
it’s GMT – right?” He says
Wings also has plans to
be listed on the LSE.
The move is also for
personal reasons. Tony’s
father passed away two
years ago, his mother has
been living in Cyprus since
then and he wants to be
closer to family.
He describes himself as
the stereotypical Greek,
“loud, emotive, social
and bubbly”, and that
family values and
traditions are exceptionally
important to him.