Interjet appointed Viva Air Colombia co-founder and former chief executive William Shaw as its new chief in mid-January. Shaw replaced Jose Luis Garza, who had served as Interjet’s chief executive since its launch in 2005. Garza joined the airline's board
Source: Interjet
IndiGo parent Interglobe Aviation disclosed the appointment of Ronojoy Dutta as the Indian low-cost carrier's new chief executive in late January. Airline founder Rahul Bhatia had been acting in the role since the departure of long-serving chief Aditya Ghosh in summer 2018
Source: IndiGo
Argentinian low-cost airline Flybondi appointed former LATAM Airlines Argentina executive Sebastian Pereira as its new chief executive in February, amid a management reshuffle at the airline. The move came two months after Flybondi’s founding chief executive Julian Cook left the airlines
Source: Flybondi
Virgin Australia named Paul Scurrah as its new chief executive and managing director in early February, succeeding John Borghetti from 25 March. Scurrah previously had chief executive roles at port operator DP World Australia and Queensland Rail, and executive general manager roles at Aurizon, Flight Centre and Tourism Queensland. He has also worked at Qantas and Ansett Australia
Source: Dean Lewins/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Walter Cho was appointed chief executive of Korean Air in April after the death of his father and former chief executive Cho Yang-ho
Source: BillyPix
Romanian low-cost carrier Blue Air appointed Oana Petrescu as its new chief executive in early May, replacing interim chief Marius Puiu. Petrescu joined Blue Air as interim chief financial officer in January 2018
Source: Blue Air
South African Airways named Zuks Ramasia as acting chief executive of the flag-carrier in June, following the resignation of Vuyani Jarana. Ramasia was the general manager of operations at the airline
Source: South African Airways
Connect Airways, the consortium that took over regional carrier Flybe, named Virgin Atlantic executive Mark Anderson as its new chief executive in June. Anderson was executive vice-president of customer experience at Virgin Atlantic and previously worked as managing director of Virgin Holidays. Later in the year, it was announced that Flybe would be rebranded as Virgin Connect
Source: Virgin Atlantic
In mid-June, Avianca appointed former Aeromexico executive Anko van der Werff as its new chief executive, effective 15 July. Former chief executive Hernan Rincon left the airline in April, just as the carrier was launching a transformation plan to improve profitability while slowing growth
Source: BillyPix
Augustus Tang was named as the new chief executive of Cathay Pacific in mid-August, having been with Swire Group — the carrier’s majority shareholder — since 1982. Tang replaced Rupert Hogg, who stepped down amid mainland pressure over pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong
Source: Swire Group
Following the senior management shake-up that saw its chief executive and commercial chief step down, Cathay Pacific appointed a new head of its low-cost subsidiary HK Express in mid-August. Cathay veteran Mandy Ng, who has been with the operator for 17 years, took over as HK Express chief executive with immediate effect, following the departure of Ronald Lam to the post of Cathay chief customer and commercial officer
Source: Cathay Pacific
AirAsia’s overseas subsidiaries had a busy year for new appointments. In August, Philippines AirAsia named Ricardo Isla (left) as its new chief executive. Isla succeeded Dexter Commendador, who returned to his previous position as chief operating officer. Meanwhile, at the end of October, Indonesia AirAsia named Veranita Yosephine (right) as its new chief executive. Yosephine succeeded Dendy Kurniawan
Source: AirAsia
Ryanair veteran Eddie Wilson replaced Michael O'Leary as chief executive of the group's main airline, effective 1 September. O'Leary became chief executive of the holding company that oversees Ryanair, its Austrian subsidiary Lauda, Polish unit Buzz, and Malta Air
Source: Oliver Hoslet/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Airline group IAG appointed Iberia Express chief executive Fernando Candela to oversee budget arm Level in early September, replacing Vincent Hodder. Iberia Express chief operating officer Carlos Gomez Suarez was named as the carrier's interim chief executive
Source: Iberia Express
Air New Zealand appointed Walmart US chief executive Greg Foran as its next chief executive in October. Foran will take up the post in the first quarter of 2020, Christopher Luxon having stepped down in late September
Source: David J Phillip/AP/Shutterstock
Wingo, the Colombian low-cost subsidiary of Panama's Copa Airlines, appointed Carolina Cortizo Colon as its chief executive in November. Cortizo previously held several positions with Copa. Catalina Breton, who led Wingo from its launch in 2016, left the carrier in May. Cortizo is the daughter of Panama's president, Laurentino Cortizo
Source: Wingo
Norwegian named former Circle K Europe group president Jacob Schram as its new chief executive in November. He will take up the position from the start of 2020. Geir Karlsen, who has been acting chief executive since long-standing boss Bjorn Kjos stepped down in July, will continue as chief financial officer and deputy chief executive
Source: Norwegian
United Airlines announced in December that president Scott Kirby will take over the chief executive role in May 2020, at which point current incumbent Oscar Munoz will become executive chairman of the US carrier's board
Avianca says initial motions in the proceedings for reorganisation under its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing have been approved by the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, allowing it to pay employees and creditors and maintain some operations.
United Airlines says it has named Brett Hart, currently the airline’s executive vice president and chief administrative officer, to be its new president, succeeding Scott Kirby, who is moving to the chief executive role later this month.
Cathay Pacific will operate Air New Zealand’s Hong Kong-Auckland services through to the end of March as the latter continues to deal with capacity issues due to ongoing Boeing 787-9 engine issues.
The National Transportation Safety Board has urged regulators to require that Boeing redesign the 737NGs engine fan cowl structure to ensure integrity in the event of a fan blade failure.
Major US airlines expect the Thanksgiving holiday travel season to break records as airlines continue to deal with the fallout of the grounding of the Boeing 737 Max aircraft, a lobby group for the commercial aviation industry says on 19 November.
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