This appointment follows a recent full integration of the sales activities of Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Edelweiss, Eurowings, Lufthansa and SWISS into one sales force in Africa and the relocation of the regional sales office for Sub-Saharan Africa from Lagos (Nigeria) to Brussels (Belgium) in the headquarters of Brussels Airlines.
He then went on to develop the sales activities in Germany, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea for both Sabena and Swissair. Under the new succeeding airline Brussels Airlines he became responsible for sales and ground operations as General Manager for Eastern Africa, Senegal and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He was also active as Foreign Trade representative in several African countries for the Belgian Government. Since 2013 Philippe Saeys-Desmedt has been acting as Vice President Sales Africa for Brussels Airlines, responsible for a team of 350 local staff.