Experienced airline executives Jaan Albrecht and Chris Browne, together with Aercap’s chief risk officer Anton Joiner are among nominations to join the board at Norwegian.
In a notice to shareholders ahead of its annual general meeting on 30 June, Norwegian has proposed four nominations for election to its board, together with the proposed re-election of Sonder Gravir. Two existing members of the board, Liv Berstad and Christain Fredrik Stray, are stepping down.
The nominations include Albrecht, who after 10 years at the helm of Star Alliance, has served as chief executive of Austrian Airlines, SunExpress and, most recently, Saudia. Albrecht’s biography published on the Norwegian website shows he served as chief executive of the Saudi Arabian carrier until the end of 2019 and remains an advisor to the chairman.
Former TUI chief operating officer Browne served in the same role at EasyJet between 2015 and 2019, before stepping down for personal reasons.
Joiner is chief risk officer at aircraft lessor AerCap. The latter holds a 15.9% stake in Norwegian following the debt-for-equity restructuring Norwegian completed in May, a process which helped secure critical state aid.
AerCap chief executive Aengus Kelly has also been proposed to join the airline’s nomination committee, from which former chairman Bjorn Kise is stepping down.
Lessors including BOC Aviation and Avolon are also among lessors to have converted lease obligations into shares in Norwegian as part of the recent debt conversion plan.
