Virgin on the hunt for new frequent flyer boss

Virgin Australia's Velocity frequent flyer program. (Virgin Australia) — Virgin’s Velocity program has about 4.7 million members. (Virgin Australia)

The head of Virgin Australia’s Velocity frequent flyer program is stepping down after about two and a half years in the job.

Neil Thompson has decided to leave as chief executive of Velocity to focus on his other roles as a director of Plan International Australia and an advisory board member of Australian National University’s Centre for China in the World, Virgin said in a statement on Friday.

He will stay on in the role until a global search process found a suitable replacement.

Thompson began as chief executive of Velocity in August 2012 just after Virgin created a separate division for the frequent flyer program. Previously, he also worked in the Qantas frequent flyer division.

Velocity added about 1.6 million new members during his time as Velocity chief executive. Thompson also oversaw the sale of 35 per cent of Velocity to Affinity Equity Partners in 2014, with the transaction valuing the program at about $1 billion.

Virgin chief executive John Borghetti said Thompson had done an outstanding job building a strong foundation for the future growth of Velocity and wished him the best for the future.