Europe, Middle East & Africa appointment highlights - May-2020

12 June, 2020

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 month.

Here are the key executive changes for May-2020:

  • Aero Africa appointed James Cameron as director product development Southern Africa.
  • Finnair stated SVP customer experience and member of the Finnair executive board Piia Karhu plans to leave Finnair on 30-Jun-2020.
  • Ryanair Group stated June Stan McCarty will succeed David Bonderman as chairman of the board, and Louise Phelan will replace Kyran McLaughlin as senior independent director, effective 01-Jun-2020.
  • SAS appointed Magnus Örnberg as EVP and CFO, effective 01-Oct-2020 at the latest.
  • Air France-KLM appointed Angus Clarke as CCO of Air France, effective 15-May-2020.
  • Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA CEO Jacob Schram outlined the following Group management appoints, effective 02-Jun-2020:
    • A newly created 'airline' department, headed by Andrew Hodges;
    • A newly created 'airline ecosystem' department, with Brede Huser temporarily leading the department;
    • Newly created 'customer' department, headed by Christoffer Sundby, effective 01-Sep-2020;
    • 'operations' will continue to be headed by Tore Kristian Jenssen, until a replacement is announced "in due course";
    • 'IT, supply chain and process improvement', a newly created function, which will be headed by Knut Olav Irgens Høeg;
    • 'people' department will be headed by Guro Poulsen;
    • communications' will be headed by Anne-Sissel Skånvik.
  • easyJet announced CFO Andrew Findlay advised the board of his intention to leave the company. Mr Findlay will leave easyJet in May-2021 in adherence to his contractual obligations.
  • Finnair stated Jouko Karvinen was re-elected chairperson of the board.
  • Air France EVP communications and executive committee member Benoît Parayre plans to leave the company.
  • ASL Aviation Holdings announced CEO Hugh Flynn will retire during Jul-2020, after 22 years in the role.
  • easyJet announced deputy chairman Charles Gurassa and senior independent non-executive director and chair of the finance committee Andy Martin notified the board of their intention to step down from their roles in 2020. Mr Martin will remain until 31-Aug-2020, while Mr Gurassa will stay until 31-Dec-2020.
  • WOW air owner Michelle Ballarin appointed Dmitry Kaparulin as country director Russia & CIS.
  • Kuwait Airways chairman Youssef Al-Jassem submitted his resignation, effective Jun-2020.
  • Saudia appointed Abdul Rahman bin Saleh Al-Eidan as director for the Al-Qassim Region.