Skyscanner appoints Bryan Batista as Chief Operation Officer

Former Booking.com executive joins Skyscanner’s leadership team to drive growth via non-flight verticals

Travel comparison site Skyscanner has announced Bryan Batista has been appointed as its new chief operating officer. 

He joins from Gopuff where he was SVP of international. Previously he was the former SVP Trips and CEO of Rentalcars.com at Booking.com and director of EU Sales at Tesla.

Batista joins the business as Skyscanner accelerates its growth strategy against a background of resilient global travel demand.

He will report to CEO John Mangelaars and will be based out of the UK.

Batista will lead Skyscanner’s teams focussed on developing the company’s long term strategic vision, business operations as well as non-flight verticals such as accommodation, car rental and future travel options.

Mangelaars said: “Bryan has an exceptional track record of driving strategic growth in international tech-orientated businesses. 

"His experience will allow us to further develop our product and offerings to travellers beyond our core flights proposition with a focus on accommodation and car rental. 

"We are already seeing positive momentum in these areas and longer term we will look to explore additional traveller first services. I’m delighted to welcome Bryan to the Skyscanner team.”

Batista added: “Skyscanner’s sustained momentum coming out of the pandemic combined with the vision, product development and relentless focus on the traveller are what attracted me to the role and back into the sector. 

"I’m excited to be joining one of the leading global travel technology players at a time when travel remains a top priority for people. 

"My focus will be to help accelerate the implementation of the business’ long-term strategy so that we deliver for travellers worldwide.” 

"Travellers coming to Skyscanner have a choice of over 3 million accommodations and in 2023 performed on average more than 1 billion trip searches every month. At the start of 2024, Skyscanner saw record travel demand, outperforming the global flights market.*

Skyscanner continues to be a strategic partner for some of the biggest brands, airlines and DMOs in the world; working with companies from across the travel ecosystem including DMOs like Visit California to promote destinations, powering the next generation of AI travel tools such as Bing Chat and Layla, as well as helping airlines promote their unique offers via NDC and launch new routes based on data intelligence.