Former Deutsche Lufthansa AG manager Thierry Antinori has been named the new executive vice-president for passenger sales worldwide at Emirates. Confirming the appointment, an Emirates spokesperson told Gulf News yesterday: \"Emirates is pleased to confirm the appointment of Thierry Antinori as executive vice president, passenger sales worldwide. He will join the company on October 1.\" Antinori, a former chief marketing officer for Lufthansa, will succeed Richard Vaughan, who is due to retire. Having left the Lufthansa Group in late March, Antinori was due to take over as Austrian Airlines\' chief executive officer on April 1, but turned down the position. In his ten years at Lufthansa, Antinori was a member of the executive board of the German carrier\'s passenger airline division, responsible for marketing, sales and product. Meanwhile, more than 800 guests from the business community and government of St Petersburg in Russia were greeted by Emirates on Tuesday ahead of the airline\'s November 1 launch of service to the country\'s northern capital, the carrier said yesterday. The launch of St Petersburg will be the airline\'s second gateway into Russia after Moscow, which started in 2003 and is now a double daily service. Emirates will also introduce two additional flights between Dubai and Mauritius, raising the service to 11 weekly flights, the carrier added. It said the move is aimed at supporting the growing number of tourists to the popular island.