The Decade of Airline Excellence Awards are celebrating the best airline stories from the decade prior to the current crisis – a period of high points for the industry that brought air travel to new markets and catapulted issues such as sustainability to the forefront of strategic thinking. Six awards will be handed out in early December to an airline from each of the six major regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa.
The full roster of awards, organised by FlightGlobal in association with Airline Business and Korn Ferry, have been announced.
Recipient of the Decade of Airline Excellence Award for the North America region, sponsored by Pratt & Whitney, and the overall winner.
Cirium brings together powerful data and analytics solutions to keep the world in motion. Cirium delivers solutions globally to leaders in finance, aerospace, travel, governments, airlines and more. On any given day, Cirium manages more than 300 Terabytes of data covering everything from schedules and routes to aircraft configurations and passenger record numbers.
Cirium is part of RELX PLC, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers.
From the smallest details to the highest pursuits, Collins Aerospace is dedicated to redefining aerospace.
With our customers, we relentlessly tackle the toughest challenges in our industry. And, every day, we imagine ways to make the skies and the spaces we touch smarter, safer and more amazing than ever.
Together, we chart new journeys and reunite families. We protect nations and save lives. And we explore the unknown.
We believe in the power of intelligence and partnership to guide our customers into the future.
The paths we pave together lead to limitless possibility. And the bonds we form propel us all higher again and again.
We are constant in our evolution.
We are connected to our customers—always.
We are compelling as we boldly step forward.
A global aerospace company focused on Commercial, Executive, Agricultural, and Defense and Security aviation, Embraer celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. Headquartered in Brazil, the company designs, develops, manufactures and markets aircraft and systems, providing after-sale customer services & support.
Since it was founded in 1969, Embraer has delivered more than 8,000 aircraft. On average, an Embraer aircraft takes off somewhere in the world every 10 seconds. The world fleet transports over 145 million passengers annually.
Embraer is the leading manufacturer of commercial jets up to 150 seats and the main exporter of high value-added goods in Brazil. The company maintains industrial units, offices, service, and parts distribution centers across the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe.
Eways Aviation provides commercial and business aviation services, supplies airport equipment, and distributes certified OEM & PMA aircraft parts - even in the most remote areas, and under the most challenging conditions.
With offices around the globe, we offer the best-in-class 24/7 AOG services no matter where you are located. Our team adapts to local realities, without compromising our service excellence and our commitment to your business. At Eways Aviation, we explore every possible option to find the best solution for you, in the shortest possible time.
At Pratt & Whitney, we believe that powered flight has transformed – and will continue to transform – the world. It’s an engine for human progress and an instrument to rise above.
That’s why we work with an explorer’s heart and a perfectionist’s grit to design, build, and service the world’s most advanced and unrelenting aircraft engines. We do this across a diverse portfolio – including Commercial Engines, Military Engines, Business Aviation, General Aviation, Regional Aviation, and Helicopter Aviation – and as a way of turning possibilities into realities for our customers.
This is our mission, and a challenge to which we rise every day. It’s about more than transporting people reliably to their destinations. It’s about more than providing the care and intelligence to service aircraft engines expertly. It’s about innovating and engineering a new and exciting future for aviation – one in which the full potential of human progress can be unleashed.
This is how we at Pratt & Whitney approach our work, and this is why we are inspired to go beyond.
Shannon Engine Support Limited (SES), a CFM International company, specializes in providing spare engine lease solutions to CFM56 and LEAP operators around the globe.
Headquartered in Shannon, Ireland, with a marketing office in Beijing and strategic engine pool locations across the globe which allows both the capacity and the reach to support airlines operating CFM56 and LEAP powered aircraft worldwide.
SES is the largest CFM engine lessor with more than 350 CFM56 and LEAP spare engines, including CFM56-5B, CFM56-7B, LEAP-1A and LEAP-1B engines.
In the run-up to the announcement of the recipitants of the Decade of Airline Excellence Awards in early December, we are looking back into the FlightGlobal archives at some of the biggest airline stories from 2010-2019.
Montie Brewer was chief executive of Air Canada between December 2004 and April 2009. Prior to Air Canada, he was senior vice-president planning at United Airlines. He has also held senior positions at Northwest Airlines, Republic Airlines, Braniff and TWA. He currently serves on the boards of Allegiant Travel Company, Finnair and Radixx International, and was formerly on the boards of Swiss and Aer Lingus.
Chris Browne joined the airline management board at EasyJet as chief operating officer on 1 October 2016, where she was responsible for all operational departments, before retiring in 2019. Chris had previously been appointed as a non-executive director on the EasyJet Board on 1 January 2016. She is also a non-executive director of Bovis Homes.
Browne has strong aviation operational and strategic expertise, having previously held several senior leadership positions including chief operating officer, aviation, of TUI Travel (2014-2015), managing director, Thomson Airways (2007-2014) and managing director, First Choice Airways (2002-2007). She also has over 25 years’ commercial and general management experience in a consumer facing industry with previous roles at Carlson Worldwide and Iberia.
Christina Cassotis has been chief executive at Allegheny County Airport Authority in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, since January 2015. She has also been a director of S&T Bank since 2017. Prior to joining the airport authority, Cassotis worked for consultancy ICF SH&E where she held various positions including managing officer for airport services. Previous she was deputy director of communications at Massachusetts Port Authority. She holds an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management and a BA from the University of Massachusetts
Alex de Gunten is the business development officer of HEICO Aerospace Corp, based in Miami. From 2003 to 2013 he served as Executive Director of the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA), which he was instrumental in relaunching. De Gunten has also served in senior positions at Orbitz, LanChile (LATAM) and Canadian Airlines (Air Canada).
Rigas Doganis advises governments and airlines on air transport policy. Former head of the air transport department at Cranfield University. He was Chairman/CEO of Olympic Airways in the mid-1990s, implementing a major restructuring. Has sat on the board of South African Airways and spent nine years on the EasyJet board. He chairs the European Aviation Club in Brussels and is the author of “Flying Off Course - airline economics and marketing” (2019)
Chris Tarry established independent consultancy and advisory business CTAIRA in 2002, providing advice to clients across the industry. Prior to that, he was one of the most highly rated aviation analysts during his near 20-year period in the London market. He writes a monthly column in Flight Airline Business and lectures at a number of universities including Coventry University where he has a visiting professorship, besides chairing, moderating and presenting at conferences around the world.