Air France-KLM CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon resigns

[News_Editor]

Air France-KLM CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon resigns

2011-10-18 20:33:53 GMT+7 (ICT)

PARIS (BNO NEWS) -- European airline holding company Air France-KLM on Monday announced that its CEO, Pierre Henri Gourgeon, has submitted his resignation. Few details were immediately released, but the resignation came shortly after a board meeting.

In a statement, Air France-KLM did not specify the reason for Gourgeon's resignation, but the announcement was made shortly after the board of directors had met. The meeting was aimed at improving "the group's operating and financial performance in a context of economic uncertainties affecting the European air traffic, as well as the position of Air France in respect of increased competition from new entrants," the airline stated.

In addition, Air France-KLM said that in the company's current economic context, "top priority must be given to the recovery and improvement of the performance of Air France and of KLM, which must call up all reflection and energy in order to better address these challenges."

As a result, the airlines informed that the setting-up of a full-dedicated Air France-KLM holding, which was to be implemented at the beginning of 2012, has been put off to 2013.



Gourgeon, 65, had taken up the position of CEO on January 1, 2009. Air France-KLM's share price has had a significant downturn this year and the tragic 2009 accident which killed 228 people also occurred while Gourgeon was CEO.

On June 1, 2009, an Airbus A330-200 jetliner operated by Air France as Flight 447 and on route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris crashed near waypoint TASIL in the Atlantic Ocean about three and a half hours after taking off.

The crash, which has been partly blamed by distracted pilots dealing with faulty airspeed alarms and mishandling other important systems in the aircraft, marked Air France's deadliest, and France's Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses chief Paul-Louis Arslanian called the incident the worst accident in French aviation history.

The airline company also announced on Monday that Jean-Cyril Spinetta, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Air France-KLM group, would be appointed as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Air France-KLM group.

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