After having successfully graduated in business administration in the Southwest of Germany, Rainer Klee moved to Berlin, the city of the Berlin Wall at that time. In Berlin, he started to study psychology and built up various companies at the same time.

In 1988, together with five friends and people he knew, Rainer founded "Titanic Reisen", an independent travel agency with a special focus on long-distance flights.

In 1993, the consolidator AER Reiseservice was founded as a spin-off of Titanic Reisen. Then as now, the shareholders of AERTiCKET are Rainer himself and the AER cooperation.

Rainer holds a bachelor's degree in psychology and has undergone advanced training as coach and facilitator.

Thanks to his in-depth knowledge of the consolidator and travel business, Rainer continuously pushes AERTiCKET's competitive position on a global level.

Holger Taubmann studied business administration at Lufthansa in Frankfurt after completing his training as an air travel agent. After successfully graduating in 1996, Holger joined the travel distribution system Amadeus.

From 1997 to 2017, he held various positions there, including Chairman of the Management Board of Amadeus Germany, later as Head of the DACH region, then Regional Head for DACH, Scandinavia, Israel and Eastern Europe. From 2011, Holger was responsible for the global GDS business on the Amadeus Management Board in Madrid: leisure/corporate travel agencies online, offline, tour operators, negotiation of airline GDS content etc. as well as product management and product delivery.

After leaving the company in 2017, Holger worked primarily in the private equity and venture capital sector, including as DACH Head for the financial services provider Lowell Financial Services. Since the beginning of 2023, Holger has worked closely with the management team at AERTiCKET in Berlin as a consultant; since the end of 2023, he has been managing the operational business of the Consolidator Group as COO together with founder and CEO Rainer Klee.Holger Taubmann studied business administration at Frankfurt University after completing his training as an commercial airline trainee at Lufthansa German airlines. After successfully graduating in 1996, Holger joined the travel distribution system Amadeus.

From 1997 to 2017, he held various positions at Amadeus, among others Director of the airline account team, later CEO Amadeus Germany, as of 2009 also Head of the DACH region, then Regional VP for DACH, Scandinavia, Israel and Eastern Europe. From September 2011, Holger was responsible for the Amadeus GDS business as part of the Amadeus Executive Board in Madrid: globally responsible for the business with leisure/corporate travel agencies online, offline, tour operators, negotiation of airline GDS content etc. as well as product management and product delivery.

After leaving Amadeus in 2017, Holger worked primarily in the private equity and venture capital sector, including as Regional CEO DACH for the financial services provider Lowell. Since the beginning of 2023, Holger has worked closely with the management team at AERTiCKET in Berlin as a consultant; since the end of 2023 he is managing the operational business of the Consolidator Group as COO together with the founder and CEO Rainer Klee.

THE Consolidator

The biggest consolidator in our group is AERTiCKET Conso GmbH, with headquarters in Berlin and offices in Hamburg, Hanover, Frankfurt and Saarlouis. Around 105 experienced airline specialists work in the service center, take care of flight bookings, rebookings, ticketing, ADMs and refund applications, manage group bookings and offer a 24/7 service 365 days a year.

AERTiCKET Conso GmbH is an outstanding consolidator: it distributes tickets and fares from over 100 countries, works with all major GDS systems and offers exclusive airline fares, including over 40 direct connections (incl. NDC) - e.g. from Lufthansa, Air France/KLM, British Airways/Iberia, Oman Air, Eurowings, Singapore Airlines - and through the connection of local GDS systems such as Travelsky (China), Sirena (Russia) and Troya (Turkey).

Marion Lützen is the Managing Director of AERTiCKET Conso GmbH.

The expansion of national and international partnerships is an important goal of the AERTiCKET Group. We want to offer our agencies the best international flight content. This means more availability than elsewhere, local fares worldwide and interesting airline commissions.

In 2021, AERTiCKET founded Global Conso Tech AG together with several business partners. This company provides content from over 100 markets to interested partners and agencies via an API interface. Tim Howe Schröder and Oleksii Murovtsev are responsible for Global Conso Tech.

Since June 2023, together with Wolfgang Lehr, Tim Howe Schröder has also been heading the Global Ticket Factory, the newest consolidator in the company. With a team of international sales experts and a Global Operations team, the Global Ticket Factory supports the international customers of the AERTiCKET Group, who greatly appreciate our offering as a "one-stop store" for global content.

Most consolidators in the AERTiCKET Group are generalists; some specialize in ethnic business. The largest international consolidator in the AERTiCKET Group is Picasso Travel / Panorama Travel, headquartered in Los Angeles and in New York City. Picasso Travel is an ethnic consolidator offering service in at least five languages.

Eren Aksoy has been managing Picasso Travel for about 20 years.

The AERTiCKET Group currently includes twelve consolidators in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, France, Belgium, Great Britain, Spain, Brazil, Turkey and the USA.

This will not be the end of the story: The group is continuously growing through acquisitions or through joint ventures with local partners. The latest additions to the AERTiCKET world are airline ticket wholesalers Biletbank, market leader in Turkey, and Skyways in Belgium.

Wolfgang Lehr, international CFO at AERTiCKET, ensures the addition and smooth integration of new consolidators into the group. Since July 1, 2023, he manages the newly founded international consolidator Global Ticket Factory together with Tim Howe Schröder.

During the Corona pandemic, AERTiCKET acquired a consolidator in the UK along with an associated service center in Malaysia. Thanks to this acquisition, the AERTiCKET Group offers its customers an optimized 24/7 service in English.
 

AFL Linienflugeinkaufs-GmbH in Berlin takes care of flight purchasing, product and marketing for the AERTiCKET Group.

Katja Polakowski and AERTiCKET manager Lars Holling negotiate fares and conditions with our national and international airline partners every year. The combined purchasing power of the entire AERTiCKET Group ensures a solid negotiating position.

AFL is also responsible for the distribution, daily updating and quality control of these fares in all databases and booking systems of the group. 

The marketing team places banners, sends newsletters, organizes presentations and events - thus ensuring increased sales for airlines and providing AERTiCKET agencies with the latest updates and offers.

In addition to his work for AFL, Lars Holling is actively involved in the German Travel Association (DRV), where he heads the Air Transport Committee.

The Air Transport Committee represents the interests of agencies, corporate service providers, tour operators and consolidators vis-à-vis IATA, the individual airlines and the airports. The primary aim is to ensure fair cooperation.

Berlin is also home to the AERTiCKET subsidiary Technoly. Technoly develops the software for the AERTiCKET Group and the tools for a successful digital transformation of travel agencies.

Technoly has about 60 developers, QAs, product owners and helpdesk/support staff.

They work together to develop software that makes traveling better and booking travel easier. They work in agile workflows and are in constant exchange with the specialized departments of the entire AERTiCKET Group.

This is how they combine tourism expertise with software development skills and guarantee the best possible result for AERTiCKET's clients and for their customers.

Technoly's most important projects are:

•    Cockpit, our professional booking interface for travel agencies.
•    My Cockpit, our super practical application for managing bookings

Stephan Ebert and Alexander Staerck are the managing directors of Technoly.

The finance department at AERTiCKET, under the leadership of Friedrich Floto, is responsible for all financial topics from accounting and controlling to budget and liquidity planning for the entire group.

The finance specialists are the contact persons for banks, auditors, payment service providers, investors and authorities. They are responsible for financial risk management and prepare reports for internal and external audiences. In addition to the daily operational business, strategic topics and strongly increasing digitalization topics become the focus.

Friedrich Floto is an internationally experienced financial expert who has worked in various industries and countries, also outside tourism.

The headquarters of the AERTiCKET Group are in Berlin Kreuzberg. 

This is where our technical heart is beating: In Los Angeles, the network needs to be configured anew? The colleagues in Bordeaux need new headsets? The developers require more server capacity? Our IT department will take care of it.

Tariffs can't be booked because there's a technical problem? Our 24/7 support team will help quickly and competently.

The 40 websites of the company group are developed and maintained in Berlin too.

Maren Exel is responsible for these key services.

AERTiCKET's subsidiary airfair has been Europe's leader in fare data collection for over 20 years. The company manages fares for airlines, consolidators, online travel agencies and tour operators all over the world.

airfair understands the market and offers its services to airlines as well as to stationary and online operating agencies and tour operators.

Managing Director Stefanie Campeggi is in charge of airfair.

The Hamburg-based travel agency Koch Übersee was founded on October 8, 1948 and was one of the first German travel agencies to get the IATA license. Open-mindedness for modern technologies while preserving Hanseatic traditions and values are the philosophy of the LCC travel agency until today. Koch Übersee offers high-quality tourism and a corporate travel service.

The travel agency Honold, a Lufthansa City Center specializing in own events and tourism, is based in Neu-Ulm.

The designated specialists of Vorne Sitzen in Kempten sell their customers first & business class tickets at special rates and are unbeatable in advising on these products.

Ilona Paschke manages this renowned travel agency.

In addition to flights, you can also book train tickets, hotels, transfers, rental cars, excursions, events and travel insurance on Cockpit. This is made possible by our dynamic operator Cockpit Holidays Services.

Thanks to the modern booking technology of Cockpit Holidays, AERTiCKET agencies can easily package all travel modules into individual, complete trips. The highlight: These trips are secured via Cockpit Holidays Services as tour operator. From 2023, Cockpit Holidays will also offer cruises.

AERTiCKET manager Thomas Wiedau is responsible for this area of the AERTiCKET Group.

STA Travel offers tailor-made trips for young adults.

Explorer Fernreisen has been the expert for long-distance travel for around 50 years. The tour operator was founded back in 1970 as an Africa specialist and is now established as a renowned long-haul tour operator in German-speaking countries. Explorer Fernreisen is more than a website or a travel agency chain. Explorer is an experienced and solid tour operator - with best contacts in faraway countries, own purchasing and product management, more than 2,500 Explorer catalog pages and an extensive customer service.

Travel Overland is a successful, Germany-wide operating and dynamic individual travel specialist with travel agency branches in Hamburg, Bremen, Berlin, Augsburg and Munich and a strong online presence.

All three travel agency brands are managed by Heike Niederberghaus under the roof of the Explorer Travel Group, which was founded in 2023.