EMEA appointment highlights of the month – April 2019

14 May, 2019

The travel, tourism and aviation industries in the EMEA region 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. The Blue Swan Daily will keep you informed of these movements each month, with a full wrap of the key changes in the EMEA market, while also looking forward to key appointments announced for the last month.

Here are the key executive changes for April 2019;

  • Eindhoven Airport announced CEO Joost Meijs plans to step down from 01-Sep-2019. He will be appointed CEO of Aruba Queen Beatrix International Airport operator Aruba Airport Authority;
  • Airbus shareholders appointed Guillaume Faury as an executive member of the board for three years. At the board meeting immediately following the AGM, Guillaume Faury was formally appointed Airbus CEO, replacing outgoing CEO Tom Enders. Airbus' board also selected René Obermann to succeed Denis Ranque as chairman when Mr Ranque's mandate expires at the close of the 2020 AGM;
  • Bern Belp Airport plans to appoint Urs Ryf as new CEO, effective 01-Jul-2019;
  • fastjet appointed Kris Jaganah as CFO and a board member on 05-Apr-2019, succeeding Michael Muller;
  • Norwegian Air appointed current CFO Geir Karlsen as deputy chairman of corporate management on 08-Apr-2019. Mr Karlsen will also act as CEO in the absence of Bjørn Kjos;
  • Uganda Airlines appointed Michael Etiang as chief pilot on 04-Apr-2019;
  • IAG appointed Steve Gunning as CFO, replacing Enrique Dupuy de Lôme who is due to step down as CFO and board executive director at the AGM in Jun-2019;
  • Finnair announced it will make the following appointments to its executive board, effective 01-May-2019:
    • Ole Orvér as CCO;
    • Nicklas Ilebrand as senior VP of strategy.
  • Etihad Airways Group CFO Mark Powers reportedly resigned for personal reasons. Mr Powers will be replaced in the interim by Etihad Airways senior finance executive Adam Boukadida;
  • KLM Royal Dutch Airlines shareholders reappointed Pieter Elbers as president and CEO and René de Groot as COO for four year terms. Shareholders also appointed Janine Vos, Jan Kees de Jager and Air France-KLM CEO Benjamin Smith as new members of the KLM supervisory board;
  • LEVEL appointed Aurelius Noell as CCO effective Apr-2019;
  • Brussels South Charleroi Airport appointed Philippe Verdonck as CEO, effective 02-May-2019;
  • Iran Airports & Air Navigation Company announced the appointment of Touraj Dehqani Zanganeh as Iran Air CEO, succeeding Farzaneh Sharafbafi;
  • Blue Air appointed Oana Petrescu as CEO;
  • Tallinn Lennart Meri Airport announced plans to appoint Riivo Tuvike as chairman and CEO, effective 01-Jun-2019;
  • Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) announced the appointment of Abdulhadi Al Mansouri as president of the GACA on 08-May-2019;
  • SAS announced deputy president and COO Lars Sandahl Sørensen will step down, effective mid Aug-2019.
  • emea
  • europe/mea
  • executive movements