Business Travel News has named Jeff Lobl, Delta's Managing Director - Global Distribution & Omnichannel Strategy, to its list of the 25 Most Influential People in Business Travel.

Lobl is responsible for Delta's Global Distribution Strategy and commercial relationships with Global Distribution Systems, Online Travel Agencies and metasearch partners. Working collaboratively with Delta's Global Sales team, customers and partners, he has been an influential voice helping to re-shape the airline distribution landscape and ensure customers have a consistent shopping experience, no matter where they choose to buy.

The award referenced Delta's leadership on the Next Generation Storefront, a fast-moving industry initiative that seeks to innovate t​hird-party channels to display multiple airline products rather than a single lowest fare. ​

"As with everything we do at Delta, our distribution philosophy is based on what our customers tell us matters most, and that includes consistency across channels, transparency to what they are buying, and choice among all available products," Lobl said. "At Delta and across the airline industry, we've evolved our product lines to meet changes in customer demand, and we've likewise evolved our direct channels to keep pace with these changes. Customers expect third-party channels to give them the same choice and ease of use they get on direct channels, or from other retail sectors, and we're working hard to help make that a reality."

Over the past few years, Delta has taken multiple steps to ensure the third-party retail experience offers customers the same rich content and choice that they enjoy when booking on direct channels. This includes:

• Working with multiple Next Generation Storefront-based retailers including TripActions, TravelBank, Upside and PSNGR1 to add Delta content.

• Achieving Level Three International Air Transport Association New Distribution Capability (NDC), standard 18.1 certification in conjunction with partner Virgin Atlantic.

• Testing and launching NDC content on Fliggy, a subsidiary of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba and one of the largest consumer booking sites in China.

• Collaborating with SAP Concur to transform the digital retail shopping experience and participate in Concur TripLink.

• Joining Sabre's Beyond NDC program, a cross-industry group working to accelerate the development of NDC technologies.

Lobl joined Delta in 1996 and has held positions of increasing responsibility in Revenue Management, Network Planning, Sales, Reservations and other commercial departments.

Past Delta BTN winners include CEO Ed Bastian; Steve Sear, President – International and E.V.P. - Global Sales; Bob Somers, S.V.P. - Global Sales; Dave Holtz, S.V.P. – Operations and Customer Center; Kristen Shovlin, V.P. — Sales Operations and Development.

Business Travel News is the leading global source of business travel information and intelligence, reaching more than 44,000 corporate executives who are responsible for setting travel policy, managing and buying business travel/meetings for their companies.​

Photo caption: Jeff Lobl accepting BTN award from Elizabeth West, Editor-in-Chief, The BTN Group

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