Shannon Airport has named former Liverpool airport managing director Neil Pakey as its new chief executive.

Pakey's three-year term commences on 10 June. Most recently, he was senior director of network marketing at Vantage Airports Group.

He ran Liverpool John Lennon airport between 2002 and 2010. Within that period he also served a stint as chief executive of Peel Airports, which owns Doncaster Sheffield and Durham Tees Valley airports as well as Liverpool John Lennon.

His career has also included spells with Manchester airport and airlines Air Seychelles and British Caledonian Airways.

The Irish government granted Shannon airport full independence from the Dublin Airport Authority last year. "A key priority for the new CEO and the new board of Shannon Airport will be to arrest the decline in passenger numbers which has been the trend for the last five years, and then reverse it," says Irish transport minister Leo Varadkar.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news