Air Malta brand manager is ‘sleeping partner’ in aviation consultancy firm

Updated on 7 February at 5:47pm with updated comments from Air Malta on Ms Kecskes' role.

Air Malta's marketing and brand manager Melinda Kecskes, is a founder of and sleeping partner at WeLow, a consultancy company which provides its services to the aviation industry.

Kecskes launched the company in 2011, together with her former colleagues at Wizz Air, offering wide-ranging consultancy services to aviation companies.

But Air Malta, which employed Kecskes in October 2011, has denied that the marketing manager or WeLow have provided "any airline related consultancy" to competitor airlines of Air Malta.

Kecskes is one of four founders of WeLow Aviation Consulting, who describe themselves as a "boutique consultancy company specialising in aviation". According to the company's webpage, Kecskes handles the branding and marketing side.

The company's webpage lists Wizz Air, Wizz Air Ukraine, Malév Hungarian Airlines, Alba Airport Hungary, British Midland Airways, Buzz and KLM uk among its customers.

Asked by MaltaToday whether the national airline is currently making use of the external marketing agency, an Air Malta spokesperson said that the airline has "not engaged WeLow Aviation Consulting and it isn't the airline's intention to use their services".

One of WeLow's four founders, Andras Hajdu, told MaltaToday: "WeLow has not worked, does not intend to work with in the future either and has not had any business contact with Air Malta whatsoever".

Air Malta has refuted claims that Kecskes had a conflict of interest, and said Kecskes's services will not be used by this company during her employment with Air Malta.

"WeLow Aviation Consulting was established in the summer of 2011. Since joining Air Malta in October 2011, Ms Kecskes has not been actively involved with WeLow.

"The six aviation organisations mentioned are not customers of WeLow, but represent the career experiences of the four founding partners. WeLow has never offered any consultancy services to the organisations mentioned."

The Air Malta spokesperson said the airline has "identified over 160 internal projects that span various areas related to commercial, cargo, finance, corporate and financial restructuring, contracts management, ground handling, human resources, information technology and revenue enhancement".

The spokesperson said that the projects include the appointment of new marketing and PR agencies to handle Air Malta's account. He added: "The formal request for proposals process has started and will be communicated through the media in the coming weeks."

WeLow's webpage says the company was set up recently to "meet the ever-increasing demand for innovative services in the aviation business".

The webpage also says the four founders are "seasoned airline professionals, representing decades of experience at airlines and blue chip companies.

The founders of WeLoW were key members of the Wizz Air founding and development team and served in various senior management positions".

Kecskes' appointment was welcomed by Air Malta chief commercial officer Philip Saunders as a key asset in the rebranding of Air Malta that "will bring about change in our customer's journey from the reservation process to ground procedures, cabin standards and aircraft configuration".

Nowhere does WeLow's webpage state that Melinda Kecskes is employed at Air Malta or that the company provides its services to Air Malta. Her biography says that she has previously worked at Wizz Air, Malev Hungarian Airlines and DDB Budapest, an advertising agency.

According to her biography, she developed the WIZZ name, brand identity and brand strategy and defined all elements of the customer journey, including aircraft configuration, livery and interior, cabin crew uniforms and procedures, airport signage, onboard offers and in-flight magazine and website development. Meanwhile, the airline slammed reports that it is on the verge of bankruptcy.

A Wizz Air spokesperson had said "the airline is the sixth largest low-cost carrier in Europe and the market leader in terms of passenger numbers than any other airline in a number of our base countries".