Alexandra O’Conner was this week promoted by Qantas to the newly created-role of Head of Sales Channels, commencing July 2025.
The role will see O’Connor oversee Agency Sales and Operational Support, based in Qantas’ Sydney office. Her strategic appointment brings together key sales functions to strengthen how the airline supports its customers and trade partners across all channels.
O’Connor brings a wealth of industry experience and deep understanding of the Qantas business. She has spent the past two years based in Auckland as Qantas Regional General Manager where she led the commercial, financial and operational performance for Qantas in its markets across New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, including Fiji, Noumea and Samoa.
O’Connor is well known in the Australian travel community after her 4.5 year stint with The Travel Corporation as the Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand of Insight Vacations and Luxury Gold, from 2016 to 2020. She tendered her resignation from Insight in 2020 to return to her native New Zealand.
She joined TTC after more than four years at Virgin Australia, in positions including Head of Sales – Industry, before being promoted to Regional Manager NSW in November 2012. Her aviation career also included 6.5 years at Air New Zealand, culminating with her Head of Agency Sales position for just shy of two years.
Before joining Qantas two years ago, O’Conner’s most recent role was as General Manager, New Zealand, for Getinge, a global medical technology company.
Her appointment comes ahead of the 1 July launch of the airline’s new distribution model, driving adoption of IATA’s New Distribution Capability (NDC) technology which has significant benefits for travel agents and their customers. In March, Qantas announced a new service and support model to assist agents through the transition as part of the airline’s focus on improving the servicing experience and ensuring a seamless transition to NDC.
Kathryn Robertson, Qantas Executive Manager Global Sales & Distribution – who incidentally worked at Air New Zealand at the same time as O’Connor in the mid-2000s – said: “We are so pleased to have Alex returning to Australia and taking on this important new role leading our Sales Channels team.
“She brings deep knowledge and understanding of our business and her time leading the New Zealand and Pacific Islands team has given her a strong connection to our agency partners.
“Alex will play a key role in supporting our agency partners through the transition to NDC, as we continue to focus on setting them up for success and making it easier to deliver an even better experience for their customers.”
O’Connor said she was “excited to be stepping into this new role during a really significant time in the business, as we deepen our relationships and enhance collaboration with our valued travel agency partners.”
“I’m looking forward to returning to Australia and working with the talented people across the broader Qantas team to create more seamless support for agents and our mutual customers as well as reconnecting with colleagues and friends in the travel industry,” O’Connor said.
