Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) has announced Stephanie Wear as its first Director of Air Service Development. Wear joins PHL from the Tenerife Tourism Corporation in the Canary Islands, Spain, where she served as Director of Aviation and Economic Development from 2011-19. Wear joins PHL on January 27.
“The Director of Air Service Development is a new role at PHL and we are excited to welcome Stephanie to our team,” said PHL CEO Chellie Cameron. “With the completion of the runway 27L extension and the arrival of American Airlines’ 787 Dreamliners on daily flights, PHL is ready to expand its current destination offerings. Stephanie’s experience and industry knowledge will be assets as we compete globally, nationally and internationally to bring new routes to PHL.”
In Tenerife, Wear’s responsibilities included designing and implementing strategies to increase the volume of flights and passengers through the island’s two airports; supporting airlines by creating and implementing innovative marketing campaigns to increase brand awareness and sales; attracting new carriers and negotiating new flights where there were no existing direct connections; and proactively managing airline relations to identify sustainable route opportunities and influence airlines to add new capacity. During her tenure, the island’s airports experienced 82 months’ consecutive growth, with the number of visitors flying direct to the island increasing from 81% in 2012 to 94% in 2018. Through her work, Wear successfully attracted 20 new carriers, 98 new flights, 3.9 million additional new seats, four aircraft bases, and the first premium product traffic to Tenerife; negotiated the first flights to Africa, Russia, Asia and South America; increased the number of carriers by 22 percent; increased business class seats flown to the island by 400 percent; and negotiated the first U.S. tour operator contracts, thus increasing the number of U.S. visitors to Tenerife every year, including a 22 percent growth in 2018.
“This is an exciting time to join PHL,” said Wear. “The Airport has established itself as a desirable starting point for passengers from the Greater Philadelphia region and the U.S. as they travel to unique destinations here and abroad. I look to working with the PHL team as we continue to expand our global presence.”
Wear, a member of the United States Tour Operator Association (USTOA) Associate Board of Directors, was the recipient of the Routes Europe Destination Marketing Award (2013) and the Highly Commended Destination Marketing Award in World Routes (2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017) and was the youngest nominee for Routes’ 2017 Individual Contribution to Aviation Award. Wear holds bachelor’s degrees in Political Science from the University of Delaware and International Business and Political Science from Complutense University of Madrid; master’s degree in business administration from ECN Business School and marketing and sales management from ESIC Business and Marketing School; and studied Tourism and Travel Management at the University of Queensland; High Performance Collaboration: Leadership, Teamwork and Negotiation at the University of Pennsylvania and Marketing to Airlines and Incentives for Airports, Tourism and Stakeholders.