EMEA appointment highlights of the month – September 2019

10 October, 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 September 2019;

  • South African Airways (SAA) chief restructuring officer Peter Davies plans to step down from the position, according to head of media relations Tlali Tlali;
  • Flybe appointed Chris Hope as COO, effective 04-Nov-2019. Mr Hope will report to Connect Airways CEO Mark Anderson and will be responsible for Flybe's ground and air operations as well as customer service;
  • Air Namibia chairperson Deidré L Sauls-Deckenbrock and vice chairperson Nangula Kauluma resigned on 05-Sep-2019;
  • Air Namibia appointed Escher Luanda as chairperson, effective 09-Sep-2019, succeeding Deidré L Sauls-Deckenbrock;
  • KLM Royal Dutch Airlines announced the resignation of Transavia CEO Mattijs ten Brink, effective Sep-2019.
  • Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) announced president Yuri Miroshnikov resigned from the position on 12-Sep-2019;
  • Aegean Airlines board of directors appointed Panagiotis Laskaridis as vice chairman and non-executive director, effective 30-Aug-2019;
  • S7 Airlines appointed Vadim Klebanov director general, effective 12-Sep-2019. Former director general Vladimir Obyedkov will lead an S7 Group project on the development of light aviation;
  • Komiaviatrans' board appointed Aleksey Fesenko as acting director general, effective 10-Sep-2019;
  • Air Corsica appointed Luc Bereni as president. He replaces Philippe Dandrieux, who will serve as a strategic advisor to the board;
  • Finnair appointed Tomi Pienimäki as chief digital officer and a member of the Finnair executive board, effective 01-Oct-2019. Mr Pienimäki most recently served as a member of the Aallon Group board, and will succeed Katri Harra-Salonen, who will leave the position on 30-Sep-2019;
  • Africa World Airlines (AWA) announced it appointed Michael Cheng Luo as CEO;
  • CargoLogicGermany appointed Johannes Jähn as MD, succeeding Ulrich Ogiermann, effective 19-Sep-2019;
  • Transavia France appointed Cédric André-Masse as new chief experience officer in Sep-2019;
  • Alsie Express announced plans to appoint Dennis Rybasch as CEO, effective 01-Oct-2019. Mr Rybasch will replace Lone M Koch, and;
  • Royal Jordanian appointed Feras Qarrain as executive VP of finance and resources, effective 07-Oct-2019.