George Howling
Department:
Management
Country/State:
America/California
Home City:
Santa Barbara
Date of Passing:
31/01/2017
Tributes are flowing in following the death in the United States of one of Qantas most highly regarded senior executives, George Howling.
Mr Howling, 91, had a long career with Qantas during which he held the position of Director of Marketing before moving to the United States as Senior Vice President The Americas in the 1980s, subsequently retiring there to live in Carmel, California.
Originally joining Qantas in the United Kingdom he migrated to Australia and served in traffic and sales positions before taking up management roles on postings to Papua New Guinea and later to Asia and the Orient.
One of his most significant roles however was as part of a small team of Qantas executives under Keith Hamilton who managed the transitional arrangements which eventually saw the emergence of the separate flag carriers of Singapore and Malaysia from MSA.
Leaving Qantas to join Braniff in the United States he was called back to Qantas when Keith Hamilton succeeded Bert Ritchie as Managing Director, responsible for the airlines sales and marketing worldwide.
During his retirement years he kept in close touch with former Qantas colleagues and returned on several occasions to attend re-unions in Sydney.