Maria Sebastian has been appointed as the Director of Worldwide Sales for Virgin Atlantic. This was contained in a statement released by the airline, Monday. Julie Southern, Chief Commercial Officer, Virgin Atlantic, said: "I’m delighted to welcome Maria to this new and important position at Virgin Atlantic. Maria has incredible experience in global aviation and she will be the driving force behind our growth ambitions to take the airline forward in the coming weeks, months and years." Commenting on her appointment, Maria Sebastian, Director of Worldwide Sales, Virgin Atlantic said: "Virgin Atlantic is a leading brand in global aviation and I am very much looking forward to building on the success of the airline and taking its sales activity forward not only in the UK, but all around the world." Based in the UK for the last six years, Maria joins Virgin Atlantic from American Airlines where she had recently taken up the role of Managing Director, Worldwide Advertising, Promotions, and Product Marketing. Previous to this, Maria held the role of Vice President and Managing Director Sales and Marketing Europe, Middle East and Africa. In this role Maria had responsibility for revenue generation spanning 11 countries. Prior to taking up her EMEA role, Maria was based in Dallas where she was Managing Director Sales Planning and Analysis for Passenger Sales. Maria spent the early part of her career with American in Revenue Management and has extensive experience leading sales teams to deliver revenue across all channels. In this new role at Virgin Atlantic, Maria will report in to Julie Southern, Chief Commercial Officer.