Flight Booking Specialist

We have a fantastic opportunity for a detail oriented and organised collaborator, with experience in group flight bookings, to help ensure our customer’s trips get off to a great start

**About World Challenge**

Refined over 30 years, World Challenge trips focus on enriching the lives of young people through experiential travel. Our philosophy is based on the belief that character and perspective are developed through real-world experiences. Working in partnership with schools, World Challenge facilitates powerful, student-led expeditions across the world, providing opportunities for young people to develop crucial life skills, such as leadership, resilience and self-belief

World Challenge is part of Experience Education, a division of the Travelopia group, one of the world’s leading specialist travel groups.

**Our Impact**

At the heart of each World Challenge trip is a focus on personal growth, global citizenship (through sustainable community and conservation initiatives) and health and wellbeing. We want young people to return home with a concern for something larger than themselves, and an enriched view and greater appreciation of the world around them.

**What you will be doing**

**Overall purpose of the role**:
Working with the wider World Challenge and central Travelopia team to ensure flights for UK school departures are booked, taking into account fares, requested routings and travel dates, in order to deliver cost effective group flight arrangements.

**Key responsibilities**:

- Oversee & assist with the forecasting process for anticipated fares for out-of-range departures
- Provide and ensure all ad-hoc quotes for in range dates are given within the quote turnaround timeframe
- Manage & ensure all new provisional & confirmed bookings are diarised daily to ensure they are ready for procurement when routes go on sale
- Ensure Flights Team are obtaining the best possible options on flights/fares at all times taking into account customer satisfaction and commercial needs of the business
- Monitor and update reservation systems to ensure costs & flight information is correctly allocated to allow accurate reporting
- Report on the success of aviation procurement monthly
- Encourage and support the team to maintain good working relationships both internally and externally
- Relationship management of our central Travelopia flights team in regard to bookings they make and/or ticketing support
- Nurture and instigate relationships with airlines where appropriate to generate competitive group airfares, accurate forecasting and streamlined processes
- Provide information to the Finance Team to enable Billing and Settlement Plan (BSP) reconciliation
- Recruit, lead and manage the Flights team with a focus on effective service delivery, implementing change where vital to create and drive a high performing function

**Who we are looking for**:
**Key skills**:

- Proven experience in a senior aviation role, ideally with an organisation in the travel or education sectors
- Demonstrated ability in high volume flight bookings and the ability to assist in managing projects
- Highly efficient use of Amadeus GDS and prior experience of booking Group fares
- BSP - accounting procedures knowledge
- An extremely effective all-round communicator, via multiple communication platforms. Strong verbal and written skills are required, along with excellent attention to detail
- Be able to effectively balance workload and react quickly and efficiently to changing priorities
- A passion for travel and student development

**Working For Us**
- Optional hybrid working pattern between our office and your home
- Opportunities to travel overseas as a member of an expedition team and/or on familiarisation trips
- 25 days of annual leave plus public holidays, 2 charity days per year and a bonus day off for your birthday
- Global recognition and reward programme
- Access to extensive online learning resources and an allotted personal growth hour each week
- In-house and externally accredited training opportunities
- Regular social events
- Various employee discounts and offers, including discounted trips across all Travelopia brands and reduced-price kit for your next adventure

**We believe that people are happier and perform best when they are able to be their true selves and that diverse teams deliver better results.**

**We are committed to building an inclusive culture and embracing diversity in all its dimensions. This includes inspiring change through increasing awareness of unconscious bias.**

**Together we will cultivate a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment, where everyone can flourish.