EasyJet airlines, announced the appointment of Johan Lundgren as CEO. This follows the announcement on 17 July that Carolyn McCall had advised the Board of her intention to leave the company in order to become CEO of ITV television.
Berlin – Johan Ludgren will be joining the Board of Easyjet as a director and CEO on 1 December and Carolyn will step down as CEO and from the Board on 30 November. She will remain with the airline until 31 December to assist with the transition. Lundgren has over 30 years’ experience in the travel sector, the last 12 of which were with TUI Group where he was Group Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Executive Officer, Mainstream Markets.
John Barton, Chairman of Easyjet, said: “I and the Board are delighted to announce Johan as our new CEO. Johan has proven experience in European travel as CEO and in broader group roles. He is strategic yet operationally focussed and has proved himself to be a customer-centric, charismatic and successful leader.“ Easyjet is a structural winner in a dynamic aviation environment. Johan inherits a leadership team of strength and depth, engaged people and loyal passengers flying on Europe’s best network. “I am sure that under his leadership Easyjet will go from strength to strength. Finally, I wanted to reiterate everyone at Easyjet’s thanks to Carolyn for all she has done for the airline and to wish her well in her exciting new role.“
Johan Lundgren commented in the press release with a statement which is hard to understand for low budget passengers who normaly use no-frills airlines with all the disadvantages attached to this means of transport: „I have flown with and been a fan of Easyjet and its wonderful people for many years.“
As a top manager in the travel industry with top salary who supposingly has limited time on his business trips and suffcient funds and rebates from the industry for private trips this statement does not appear to be convincing. However, it does shows the ability to adapt to what customers and employees are keen to hear from a new company leader of a low-budget airline company.
