Going Places – industry appointment highlights for Jan-2022

8 February, 2022

The travel, tourism and aviation industries in the across the globe witness policy and upper level changes on a daily basis. It is important to not only keep tabs of these organisations direction, but to also monitor changes in executive branches to see the wider picture of the travel market. CTC – Corporate Travel Community aims to keep you informed of these movements each month, with a full wrap of the key changes across regional markets, while also featuring key appointments announced for the month.

Here are the key executive changes for Jan-2022:

Asia Pacific

  • Jet Airways interim CEO Sudhir Gaur resigned his position, effective immediately. Jalan Kalrock Consortium appointed Priyapal Singh to replace Mr Gaur as interim CEO.
  • SriLankan Airlines appointed Richard Nuttall as acting CEO, replacing Vipula Gunatilleka. Mr Nuttall also serves as CCO.
  • Hanjin Group appointed Byeong-ryul Park as Jin Air MD. Mr Park previously served as Korean Air MD
  • Air India announced chairman and MD Vikram Dev Dutt commenced in both roles on 21-Jan-2022. Mr Dutt replaced Rajiv Bansal in both roles.
  • IBEX Airlines announced the appointment of MD Yutaka Maezawa as president, succeeding Takao Asai, who has resigned.
  • Hainan Airlines announced chairman Liu Lu tendered his resignation due to personal reasons.
  • Air New Zealand appointed Alexandria Marren as chief operating officer, effective late Mar-2022. Mike Williams will take on the new role of chief transformation and alliances officer, effective 01-Feb-2022.
  • Philippine Airlines (PAL) appointed Stanley K Ng as president and COO in an acting or officer in charge capacity. 

Europe, Middle East & Africa

  • Icelandair Group announced the following senior appointments:
    • IS Funds Ltd board chair Sylvia Olafsdottir as chief customer officer. Ms Olafsdottir was previously Icelandair's director of operations support, network planning and scheduling.
    • Össur former VP and CIO Rakel Ottarsdottir as chief digital officer.
    • Both new appointments will take seats on Icelandair's executive committee effective 1Q2022.
  • KLM stated after close consultation with CEO Pieter Elbers, the KLM Supervisory Board established that Mr Elbers will not enter into a third term as CEO & president of KLM as of 01-May-2023.
  • Zambia Airways appointed Abiy Asrat Jiru as CEO, effective 14-Jan-2022 to 31-Mar-2024. Mr Jiru succeeds Bruk Endeshaw Abebe, whose tenure expired on 31-Dec-2021.
  • Canarian Airways announced the appointment of Francisco Rodriguez as CEO.
  • British Airways announced the following executive appointments:
    • Michelle Lydon as chief people officer, effective Feb-2022;
    • Colm Lacy as CCO, with immediate effect.
  • Hahn Air appointed Kirsten Rehmann as CEO.
  • Air France-KLM confirmed the departure of executive VP strategy Angus Clarke.
  • Wizz Air announced chief commercial officer George Michalopoulos will be stepping down from his position to pursue other interests outside of the company, effective 01-Apr-2022.
  • Condor CFO Jean Christoph Debus announced he will depart the carrier at the end of Feb-2022, before joining FlixMobility in Mar-2022.
  • Turkish Airlines' board appointed SVP sales Kerem Sarp as chief commercial officer and Levent Konukçu as chief investment and technology officer.

Americas

  • Spirit Airlines appointed Linde Grindle as chief human resources officer.
  • Amerijet International appointed Craig Bentley as chief operating officer, effective immediately.
  • Air Caraibes appointed Éric Michel as deputy managing director.