Joanna Kolatsis F. Inst. TT

Travel & Tourism, 

Passenger Shipping, Airlines, 

Tour Operations, 

Destination Management,

Distribution and Accommodation

Joanna began her legal career as Group General Counsel for a vertically integrated tour operator in 1998. In 2008 she joined the boutique aviation practice, Gates and Partners, before joining Hill Dickinson as partner and head of aviation and travel in 2014 until July 2018.

Since qualification, Joanna has specialised in the aviation and travel industries and her advice covers all aspects including airlines, tour operators, destination management companies, distribution and accommodation. Her expertise includes aviation and travel law, commercial and regulatory matters including the Package Travel Directive and ATOL compliance, aviation regulatory issues including passenger rights and general company commercial and contractual matters including booking terms and conditions, website compliance, charter agreements and complaints handling. She also assists companies with ABTA and ATOL licensing applications, regulatory investigations and compliance issues.

Joanna has specific expertise in risk management, crisis management and criminalisation in air and travel incidents and she speaks frequently on this topic. She has been involved in several high profile travel and aviations crises including air accidents and investigations, terrorist events and their impact, catastrophic weather incidents and high value injury claims. This particular skill set allows Joanna to provide strategic advice to assist with claims prevention, brand reputation and business resiliance in an effort to reduce exposure to claims and aid efficient management of crises and claims when they arise. 

Following a career of almost 20 years providing legal services to the travel and aviation industries, she left her last position as a partner in a City law firm and founded Themes Advisory. This new venture was born out of a desire to provide current, pragmatic legal and business solutions for the modern business world.

Joanna is a multi-award winning lawyer, often in demand to speak at industry events for ABTA, Advantage Travel Partnership, ITM, Travel Weekly, Airlines UK, BARUK and ERA and contributes to a number of industry publications including Travel Weekly. She is Honorary Legal Counsel to Airlines UK, and was appointed to the Board of the Institute of Travel and Tourism in 2015. Prior to this, Joanna was an Association of Women Travel Executives (AWTE) board member for three years.