Going Places – industry appointment highlights for Mar-2021

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 Mar-2021:

Americas

• Delta Air Lines appointed Keyra Lynn Johnson as VP and chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer and Amelia DeLuca as MD of sustainability.
• Volaris appointed Jaime E Pous as CFO on a permanent basis, following Mr Pous' appointment as interim CFO in Jun-2020. The LCC also appointed Isela Cervantes as interim chief legal officer to replace Mr Pous.
• Alaska Airlines appointed Constance von Muehlen as COO, effective 03-Apr-2021.

Asia Pacific

• Air New Zealand stated its chief digital officer Jennifer Sepull advised she will be leaving Air New Zealand in the week of 14-Mar-2021, however will provide transition support to CEO Greg Foran until Oct-2021.
• China Airlines board of director approved the appointment of Kao Shing-Hwang as president.
• Vistara appointed Vinod Bhat as chief information officer.
• GoAir appointed Ben Baldanza as vice chairman, effective immediately.
• GoAir MD Jeh Wadia resigned his position, effective immediately.
• Air New Zealand appointed Mat Bolland to the newly created role of chief corporate affairs officer.
• Waltzing Matilda Aviation appointed the following members of its management team to lead new scheduled operations:
  • John Thomas as CEO;
  • Dave Marcontell as COO;
  • Ryan Gilman as CFO;
  • Ajay Singh as CTO;
  • Doug Leo as CCO;
  • Alex Lee as chief strategy and business development officer.
• JEJU air appointed Lee Jeong-seok as executive director, effective 30-Mar-2021.
• Mandarin Airlines appointed China Airlines president Kao Shing-hwang as chairman, effective 30-Mar-2021.
• Asiana Airlines appointed Yoo-Seok Won as executive director, effective immediately.

Europe, Middle East & Africa

• Lufthansa Cargo extended the contract of chief operations officer Harald Gloy as a member of the executive board for a further five years, out to the end of 2026. In addition to responsibility for operations, Mr Gloy has also assumed the role of chief human resources officer, effective 01-Mar-2021.
• Tunisair appointed Khaled Chelly as CEO, following the removal of Olfa Hamdi in Feb-2020.
• Air Malta appointed Roy Kinnear as its new chief commercial officer (CCO), effective 05-Apr-2021.
• Norwegian appointed Adrian Dunne as EVP operations, succeeding interim head of operations Johan Gauermann.
• Royal Jordanian Airlines appointed Samer Majali as CEO and vice chairman effective 30-Mar-2021.