EMEA appointment highlights of the month – 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 May 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. Mr Sørensen will become CEO of Dansk Industri;
• Blue Air confirmed the appointment of Oana Petrescu as CEO on 09-May-2019. Ms Petrescu succeeds Marius Puiu, who has been interim CEO since Sep-2018;
• Emirates Airline reported chief commercial officer Thierry Antinori resigned and will be replaced by Adnan Kazim, the carrier's SVP for strategic planning, revenue optimisation and aeropolitical affairs;
• Vancouver International Airport announced Annalisa King was appointed chair of Vancouver Airport Authority's board of directors on 13-May-2019;
• LuxairGroup appointed Giovanni Giallombardo as board chairman, effective 13-May-2019. He replaces Paul Helminger, who plans to step down for personal reasons;
• Royal Schiphol Group announced plans to appoint Roel Hellemons as new Eindhoven Airport CEO, effective 01-Jul-2019;
• Kish Air appointed Farzaneh Sharafbafi as acting MD. Ms Sharafbafi was Iran Air CEO from 2017 to 2019;
• Leeds Bradford Airport appointed Hywel Rees as CEO;
• Nigeria's Government approved the appointment of Hamisu Rabiu Yadudu as managing director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, effective 20-May-2019;
• Comair appointed Wrenelle Stander as joint CEO for airlines and Glenn Orsmond as joint CEO for non-airline business and financial services, effective 31-Jul-2019. Ms Stander and Mr Orsmond will succeed Erik Venter, who will leave the company at the end of Jul-2019;
• Adria Airways appointed Sven Kukemelk as co-managing director, effective May-2019. Mr Kukemelk will serve as MD of Operations along side current MD Holger Kowarsch, who will be charged with financial and commercial divisional oversight;
• People's plans to appoint Thomas Krutzler as CEO, effective 01-Jun-2019;
• London Luton Airport appointed Keith Ludeman as chairman, effective 23-May-2019;
• Kenya Airways Group MD and CEO Sebastian Mikosz resigned for personal reasons, effective 31-Dec-2019;
• IATA announced Lufthansa Group CEO Carsten Spohr assumed his duties as chairman of the IATA board of governors (BoG) for a one year term, effective from the conclusion of the 75th IATA AGM;
• SkyTeam appointed Korean Air chairman and CEO Walter Cho as chairman of the alliance;
• South African Airways' (SAA) board accepted the resignation of group CEO Vuyani Jarana. Mr Jarana joined SAA in Nov-2017 and will remain until the end of Aug-2019 to ensure the transition of his responsibilities;
• Nordic Regional Airlines appointed Janne Tarvainen as CEO, effective 01-Aug-2019. Mr Tarvainen was most recently CEO of Finnair Cargo;
• Air Belgium appointed Philippe Wilmart as new CCO, responsible for all airline commercial, marketing and customer services.