All change at SAirGroup
SAirGroup is looking for a new chief executive at Swissair following the departure of Jeffrey Katz, who has left to join the US airline-owned Orbitz Internet airline sales site (formerly known as T2). Sources say that Katz wanted to head the entire airline group, but SAirGroup chief executive Philippe Bruggisser felt he was not ready for this role. Bruggisser told a Swiss business magazine this would have hurt the "balance" of the management team.
London analysts are tipping South African Airways (SAA) chief executive Coleman Andrews as a possible replacement for Katz. Andrews is known to have a good working relationship with Bruggisser and is rumoured to have a bumpy relationship with Transnet, the South African state holding company which owns SAA. SAirGroup has a 20% stake in SAA.
Katz, who has already returned to his native US, is believed to have been approached with a very lucrative offer from Orbitz. He originally joined SAirGroup from airline IT company Sabre and is credited with the introduction of e-ticketing, smart card check-ins and WAP technology.
In a further shake-up at the group, Sabena boss Paul Reutlinger is to become the new chief executive of its French interests, namely the airlines AOM, Air Libert‚ and Air Littoral. Unions have not taken kindly to the proposed merger, set for completion in time for the winter schedule, so Reutlinger's trouble-shooting skills may come in handy. Alexandre Couvelaire, who has the dual function of chairman and chief executive at both AOMand Air Libert‚, will become chairman of the supervisory board when the three airlines are combined.
Reutlinger was due to retire soon but appears to have been persuaded to take on a new challenge.
His replacement at Sabena is Christoph Müller, the Belgian carrier's chief operating officer. He takes the helm just over a year after joining from Lufthansa. He was vice-president corporate planning at Lufthansa, and has also worked for Deutsche Airbus and Daimler Benz Aerospace.
Aside from all this, SAir has also set up a new B-to-C internet portal, Beyoo, and has named Frank Rovekamp as chief executive officer. He is a former senior vice president at Dutch flag carrier KLM and member of the board at Galileo International.
Eurocontrol head chosen
Spaniard Victor Aguado has been appointed as the new director general of the European air traffic management organisation Eurocontrol. He replaces Yves Lambert, who is to retire at the end of the year.
Aguado comes to Eurocontrol from the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), where he has been head of the air navigation commission since 1996. Before this he was an air navigation commissioner at ICAO.
Aguado has spent much of his career at the Spanish civil aviation authority, although he started off at Lufthansa. He is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Aguado's name was apparently not on the original shortlist, where another Spaniard with connections to Iberia was believed to be frontrunner. Ironically, the European Commission is believed to have vetoed this as it believed it would mean too many Spaniards in key Brussels airline posts.
Foley in at Aer Lingus
Aer Lingus has chosen a new group chief executive. Michael Foley joins the Dublin-based Irish carrier from the brewing industry, where he was president of Heineken USA.
One of Foley's first tasks will be to gear the airline up for an initial public offering which has again been postponed and is now set for next year.
The airline is negotiating with the unions over a 14.9% employee stake in the airline as part of the privatisation process.
Eddington makes his mark
Rod Eddington, chief executive of British Airways has stamped his authority on the boardroom at the UK flag carrier, making three senior managers report directly to himself rather than other board members.
Marketing director Martin George and sales director Dale Moss, both of whom used to report to commercial director Carl Michel, have been promoted to the executive board, the so-called "leadership team".
At the same time, director of flight operations Mike Jeffrey has also been appointed to the board. He previously reported to Colin Matthews, director of technical operations.
Eddington says: "I wanted to return to a flatter structure. This enables me to be close to every part of the business."
The changes increase the size of the executive board from seven to 10, including Eddington. The reshuffle effectively reverses a move by his predecessor, Bob Ayling.
McCrea out at ANZ
Air New Zealand (ANZ) is on the hunt for a new chief executive after the resignation of Jim McCrea.
ANZ was tight-lipped about his departure, although press reports say Singapore International Airlines (SIA), which has a 25% stake in ANZ, wanted someone with a more marketing-oriented background than McCrea. McCrea had previously used ANZ's pre-emptive rights to scuttle SIA's bid for 50% of Ansett Australia. ANZ eventually took the stake.
Source: Airline Business
