Asia Pacific appointment highlights of the month – October 2018

The travel, tourism and aviation industries in the Asia Pacific 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 Asia Pacific, while also looking forward to key appointments announced for the following month.

Here are the key executive changes for October 2018:

• Indonesian National Air Carriers Association (INACA) appointed Garuda Indonesia CEO Ngurah Askhara Danadiputra as chairman on 28-Sep-2018, replacing Pahala Nugraha Mansury. Mr Danadiputra will serve as chairman for the remainder of FY2018/2019.
• Air Odisha appointed Bhupesh Joshi as CEO, replacing Santosh Pani.
• GoAir chief operating officer Jyri Strandman resigned his position, effective 05-Oct-2018.
• Taiwan's Ministry of Transportation and Communications confirmed Taoyuan International Airport Corporation chairman Tseng Dar-jen resigned on 09-Oct-2018 and was replaced by Deputy Transportation Minister Chi Wen-jong on an interim basis.
• Airbus appointed Guillaume Faury as CEO, effective 10-Apr-2019. Mr Faury currently serves as Airbus Commercial Aircraft president.
• Dragon Aviation Leasing Company appointed Gang Li as CEO, effective 01-Oct-2018.
• AirAsia India appointed Sunil Bhaskaran as CEO and MD, effective 15-Nov-2018.
• Auckland Airport appointed Mary-Liz Tuck as general manager of corporate services on 11-Oct-2018.
• Pakistan's Minister of Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudry reported Pakistan's Government appointed Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Arshad Mahmood Malik as Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) chairman.
• Fuji Shizuoka Airport Corporation Ltd appointed M Nishimura as Mount Fuji Shizuoka Airport
• Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) appointed Aijaz Mazhar as chief operating officer (COO), replacing Muhammad Ali Aftab. Mr Mazhar also serves as PIA's chief legal officer.
• Shaheen Air International appointed Syed Najam ul Asar as acting chief operating officer (COO).
• Papua New Guinea's Minister Public Enterprise and State Investments William Duma appointed Alan Milne as Air Niugini CEO.
• Australian Federation of Air Pilots (AFPA) appointed Captain Louise Pole as president, the first female president in AFPA's 80 years of operations.
• Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) announced it appointed Air Marshal Arshad Mahmood Malik as president and CEO, effective 26-Oct-2018.
• Cobham Aviation Services announced the appointment of Ryan Both as CEO. He previously served as Melbourne Tullamarine Airport SVP commercial and held the position of Virgin Australia head of mining and resource sales.
• Auckland Airport chair Henry van der Heyden formally stepped down at the annual shareholders' meeting. Auckland Airport director Dr Patrick Strange replaced Mr van der Heyden as chairman.
• AirAsia X Group appointed Nadda Buranasiri as CEO, effective 01-Nov-2018.
• Shanghai Supervison Committee removed Wu Jianrong as chairman of Shanghai Airport Authority on 01-Nov-2018.
• VietJet Air announced the appointment of Ho Ngoc Yen Phuong as VP and CFO on 03-Nov-2018.