Category: People

Rusada, the global aviation software provider, has announced the appointment of Larry Strykowski as Director of Business Development. Strykowski has a wealth of experience in the aviation software industry, having served as Managing Director Technology – MRO and Supply Chain Systems for both Continental Airlines and United Airlines, where he selected and implemented enterprise-wide solutions for maintenance planning and technical publications, as well as various MRO commercial products. He also planned and initiated the complex consolidation of technical solutions when Continental and United merged in 2010. Strykowski then moved on to become Director of Technology for the Bristow Helicopter Group, Read more

Onur Dedeköylü, who has been working as Senior Vice President for Marketing at Pegasus Airlines since 2010 and who has made significant contributions to the company’s ancillary product management, digital transformation and building the Pegasus brand, has been appointed Chief Commercial Officer. He will manage the commercial division, consisting of sales, network planning, marketing, revenue management and pricing, guest experience and cargo departments.  Dedeköylü is a graduate in Industrial Engineering from Boğaziçi University and holds an MBA degree in marketing and finance from Georgia State University in Atlanta. He began his career at Gillette working in the fields of sales Read more

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of the air cargo business for maintaining global logistics chains and transporting necessary supplies and trade goods worldwide has once again become evident. Accordingly, the international airline association BARIG (Board of Airline Representatives in Germany) has been actively involved in the air cargo sector for many years. In order to further drive forward currently relevant cargo and logistics topics, the BARIG Air Cargo & Logistics Committee has now reorganised itself. Jorge Carretero of LATAM Cargo takes over the chairmanship with immediate effect. In this way, the cargo division of the Chilean-Brazilian LATAM Airlines Group—as Read more

N3 Engine Overhaul Services, the joint venture between Lufthansa Technik and Rolls-Royce in Arnstadt, has announced changes in the management. Carsten Behrens took over the position of CEO in April 2022. He succeeds Nicole Fehr, who managed the Arnstadt plant since 2018 together with CFO Stefan Landes and is now leaving the company as planned to take on a new role at Rolls-Royce. Behrens is joining N3 from Rolls-Royce Germany and has more than 20 years of experience in aviation. He has worked for many years at MTU at various locations in the areas of engineering, production, sales, and engine Read more

WestJet has appointed Chris Avery, as Vice-President, Commercial Strategy. Avery, a former WestJetter, will join WestJet’s senior leadership team effective immediately. Avery returns to WestJet following five years with Canadian North where he served as President and CEO from 2018 to 2022 and as Vice-President, Customer and Commercial from 2017 to 2018. During his time at the helm of Canadian North, Avery led the merger and integration activities between Canadian North and First Air and successfully navigated the pandemic crisis to position the airline for recovery. Prior to joining Canadian North, Avery spent 11 years with WestJet in senior leadership Read more

SITA has appointed Matthys Serfontein as President, Americas. Serfontein returns to SITA after a two-year hiatus to drive SITA’s growth in the Americas, where travel has rebounded sharply in the wake of the pandemic. Serfontein will be key to bringing SITA’s vision of greater agility, efficiency and sustainability to the air transport industry through digitalisation. Serfontein has many years of experience in the aviation sector addressing portfolio and business development, previously having served as President of Air Travel Solutions at SITA, where he oversaw the development of SITA’s airport and border solutions. Prior to that he served as Regional Vice Read more

Etihad Cargo, the cargo and logistics arm of Etihad Aviation Group, has appointed Tim Isik as Vice President – Commercial. Based at Etihad Cargo’s headquarters in Abu Dhabi, Isik will oversee the carrier’s global commercial operations. Isik joins Etihad Cargo from American Airlines, where he gained over a decade of experience working within the aviation and air cargo sectors. In his new role with Etihad Cargo, Isik will oversee the development and deployment of the carrier’s sales strategy and be responsible for further growing Etihad Cargo’s strategic relationships, executing sales and marketing plans and driving team performance. Isik will lead Read more

Jet Support Services (JSSI), a leading independent provider of maintenance support and financial services to the business aviation industry, has appointed Tim Elberfeld as Chief Financial Officer and named Ken Goodman as Chief Underwriting Officer. Both Elberfeld and Goodman will report directly to CEO, Neil Book. Elberfeld brings more than 20 years of experience across global businesses in all aspects of finance and accounting, including M&A and system implementations, to his new role as CFO and Head of Information Technology at JSSI. Elberfeld was previously at TransUnion for ten years, an information, risk and fraud prevention solutions company, where he held Read more

The Board of Hans Airways, the UK’s new long-haul airline planning regular scheduled flights from Birmingham to India, has promoted Nathan Burkitt to Chief Operating Officer. Burkitt has worked with the start up since December 2019, supporting CEO Satnam Saini, selecting and overseeing pilot and cabin crew recruitment and training in his original role as Director of Flight Operations and Crew Training. He joined Hans Airways from Virgin Australia, where he was Manager, Flight Standards, overseeing flight operations training and standards.     Burkitt brings 17 years’ senior operational experience to the airline with a diverse, international flying career which started with ATR Read more