British Airways regional commercial manager of Trade for Southern and East Africa, Sue Petrie, has retired after 35 years with the airline. Cristina Graham, currently the regional commercial manager of Corporate for Southern and East Africa will take over Sue’s responsibilities.
“I started working for BA in 1981 in the sales shop in Pretoria, covering reservations, fares and ticketing,” Sue told eTNW. “I left in 1983 when I had my daughter and stayed at home for a year. Luckily BA had a vacancy in 1984 and so I started with the company again in October that year.”
Sue became sales account manager in 1993 for (then) Northern Transvaal and Botswana. In 2000, she was promoted to sales manager for South Africa North and in 2007, took up the role of commercial manager for Southern Africa, reporting to the country commercial manager for Southern Africa. “In 2009 we integrated the BA and Iberia teams, a first for the region. I reported into the regional commercial manager for Africa,” Sue says.
From 2011 until 2017, Sue led the trade sales teams and managed all commercial aspects of the business in Southern Africa. In 2017, she was appointed to her current position and was responsible for all trade sales in the region. This included overseeing the GSAs in Mauritius, Seychelles and Angola.
“I am going to take a couple of months off and then I will think about the next steps,” Sue says about her plans for the future.
