Air France's executive vice-president of flight operations Gilbert Rovetto is to retire.

The airline says that Rovetto was always due to retire in December and that this had been decided before the 1 June crash of an Air France Airbus A330 (AF447) in the South Atlantic.

Rovetto's role carries responsibility for flight safety at Air France.

Trade union SNPL recently criticised a letter about the A447 accident that Air France management sent to pilots, saying that it called into question the pilots' professionalism and responsibility. The airline has since offered to set up a committee of senior pilots to act as advisers to chief executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon.

Source: Flight International