Principal Consultant and Managing Partner
Mano Chandra Dhas brings over 50 years of experience in commercial air travel and business management across the Middle East, West Asia, the United Arab Emirates, Dubai, Bahrain, and India.
He spent 14 years with major airlines, including Singapore Airlines and Alitalia. He has also worked for leading travel agencies and travel management companies in the Persian Gulf. He has worked with industry leaders like Carlson Wagonlit Travel, Dnata (Emirates Airlines Group), Thomas Cook, and Kanoo Travel in Bahrain.udes experience in India, Bahrain, and Dubai. Fourteen of those years were spent with major Airlines (Singapore Airlines and Alitalia); the balance with travel Agencies and Travel Management companies: Kanoo Travel, Thomas Cook, Dnata – HRG (Emirates Airlines Group), and Carlson Wagonlit Travel, United Arab Emirates.
Building HRG Middle East & West Asia
Based in the Persian Gulf for 35 years, Mano considers the creation of the Business Travel International (BTI) network a unique and major achievement, spanning 15 countries in the region. The company later became HRG Middle East & West Asia and is now part of AMEX Business Travel. He served as Manager Middle East & West Asia for Dnata during this expansion.
As head of Dnata’s Corporate Travel Division for over 10 years, Mano worked directly with major multinational companies throughout the region. He played a key role in international corporate travel consolidations and established multiple IATA-accredited business travel outlets and dedicated client travel service implant offices in the UAE. The division had a throughput of over US$100 million.
Core Experience
Mano’s initial grounding was in Travel Operations, which gave him hands-on knowledge of crucial commercial air travel services. This experience later provided him with invaluable insight into managing major travel businesses in the Middle East and West Asia region at senior levels.
His expertise covers:
- Air passenger sales
- Corporate client acquisition
- Implementation of planned client travel services
- Client Account Management
- Contact Centre Management
- Managing multinational staff
- Setting up IATA-accredited Travel Agencies
- Setting up specialised services for VAT refunds, marine travel, and visa procurement
- Creating custom holidays for individual travellers (FITs) and groups
- Designing incentive tours
Major Client Wins
Mano has a long list of important client wins from his involvement with Client Acquisition in the Persian Gulf. They include major multinational companies. Here are a few: ABB, ABN Amro, BMW, BP, CISCO, Compaq HP, Daimler Chrysler, DOW Chemicals, Dubai Internet City, EMAAR, Ernst & Young, Fonterra, GlaxoSmithKline, Jumeirah Beach Hotel, McKinsey, Microsoft, Musanada – Abu Dhabi, Nokia, Pepsi, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Schlumberger, Shell, Siemens and more.
Leadership Achievements
Contact Centre Management: Mano led Dnata’s Contact Centre with over 160 staff members. He transformed the call centre into a multilingual operation staffed by more than 15 different nationalities. The Contact Centre specialised in handling telephone calls, emails, complex travel itineraries, ticketing and visa services. While making no compromises, optimisation of resources was the primary goal.
Country Manager Success: His final role in the United Arab Emirates was Country Manager for Carlson Wagonlit Travel. In just four years, he grew the fledgling UAE operation to over US $100 million in annual revenue.
He also pioneered the Alshamel CWT Credit Card RFP and moved the company towards selecting a single credit card client payment solution with attached benefits for all Alshamel regional entities across 7 operations (Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Oman, and Saudi Arabia) – a first for the Travel Industry in the Middle East and West Asia region.
Coromandel SAS, Colombia, South America
Mano retired in 2012 to Bogotá, Colombia. He registered Coromandel SAS in the Andean capital city, initially as a travel consultancy company specialising in Corporate Travel Management and VAT Refunds for business travel to VAT refunding countries, mainly located in Europe. He also had a minimal involvement in holidays, which is now under continual expansion to include tours in Colombia, Peru and India. He is the Managing Partner of the company
Professional Strengths
Known for his fearless integrity, his major strengths are Account Management, Relationship Management, and Service Delivery. Mano lives in Bogotá, the Andean capital city of Colombia.
Connect with Mano:
What People Say About Mano:
Read more recommendations on LinkedIn.
“During his career with the Company, he set up a VAT recovery section for dnata, a Visa Procurement section, and the Company’s Marine Travel Division.
Given his natural organisation skills and his enviable ability to stay focussed, he can always be relied on, to deliver.” Keith Longstaff – Former Divisional Sr. VP Commercial, Emirates Airlines. On Linkedin
“Mano was a hard-working, meticulous and methodical manager. He was an excellent man manager, always capable of getting the best from his staff in a quiet and efficient manner. Mano’s job knowledge was encyclopaedic and he led by example. … Mano was both well-liked and respected by his colleagues and subordinates. Thoroughly trustworthy and a pleasure to work with at all times.” Leo Fewtrell – Managing Partner, Gulf Reps Ltd. On Linkedin.