AIRLINES
Oman Air appointed Paul Gregorowitsch as its new CEO. Gregorowitsch, a citizen of the Netherlands, joins Oman Air from Air Berlin, where, having joined the company in 2011, he sat on its management board with responsibility for the carrier’s commercial activities. Prior to joining Air Berlin, he was president and CEO of Martinair Holland NV from 2007 to 2011. Gregorowitsch has also held a series of international management positions within Air France-KLM, rising to executive vice president commercial.
Matthew Ma joined Qatar Airways as vice president cargo Asia. Ma has over 45 years of experience in the freight industry. He worked at Cargolux for 41 years, starting off as regional manager space control and charter sales for Cargolux, U.S., based in Montreal and Seattle. He then returned to Hong Kong to head the Cargolux Asia & Pacific region, where he remained until joining Qatar Airways Cargo.
Brad Thomann become Virgin Atlantic’s vice president, flight operations. Thomann, who has over 30 years of experience in aviation, will oversee the airline’s technical and administrative flight operations functions. Thomann has held senior leadership positions at Virgin Australia, Boeing and United Airlines, along with 26 years of service in the U.S. Navy.
AIRPORTS
Ted J. Fick became CEO of the Port of Seattle, which operates Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Past CEO Tay Yoshitani retired in September. Fick has over 25 years of experience in major manufacturing and transportation organizations – including oversight of international operations. He spent many years working in the Puget Sound region’s manufacturing and industrial community, beginning at his family’s Tacoma-based company, Fick Foundry. He then spent many years at PACCAR, one of the U.S. Pacific Northwest’s primary manufacturers. Most recently, Fick served as CEO of Polar Corporation, a trailer and component parts manufacturer in Minnesota.
ASSOCIATIONS
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced the appointment of Rodolfo “Rudy” Quevedo as director of safety. Quevedo joined IATA’s safety and flight operations team and is based in Montreal. He is responsible for safety management systems and global aviation data management. Quevedo comes to IATA from the Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) where he served as director, global programs, managing FSF’s technical and global initiatives in collaboration with the International Civil Aviation Organization. Prior to joining FSF in 2011, he was director of safety for North American Airlines, a position he held for four years. He began his aviation career at Eastern Airlines in 1980.
THIRD PARTIES
DHL Global Forwarding appointed Charles Kaufmann as senior vice president, operations and value-added services Asia Pacific. Li Wenjun was promoted to take his place as head of airfreight, DHL Global Forwarding Asia Pacific. Based in Singapore, Kaufmann will continue to drive the development of value-added services across the region and DHL Global Forwarding’s business in Mongolia and the Korean Peninsula in addition to his new role, while Wenjun takes on the responsibility of driving the development of the airfreight business for the region out of China. Wenjun also joins the Asia Pacific management board for the first time. Value-added services cover activities such as customized road transport network services; multimodal services; and value-added services to air and oceanfreight shipments. Kaufmann joined Deutsche Post DHL in 1973 and became CEO, DHL Global Forwarding North Asia for Japan and Korea in 2006 before being appointed as COO for North Asia Pacific in 2011. He has held responsibility for operations in 21 countries in the region, managing airfreight operations. He became head of airfreight and value-added services in DHL Global Forwarding Asia Pacific in 2012. Wenjun joined DHL Global Forwarding in 2004 as China’s airfreight gateway manager before being appointed as head of airfreight China in 2009. In 2012, his team was awarded the internal Global CEO Award for Best Air Freight Team.
FPS Sri Lanka, a member of the FPS Group of independent forwarders and consolidators, created new positions and had new staff appointments. Senaka Premaratne was appointed to the newly-created post of COO, having joined the company in March as head of business development. Luckshman Ketagoda has been appointed manager airfreight, responsible for imports, exports and transshipments. He has over 25 years of experience in the air cargo industry. Wasana Rathnayake was promoted to manager agency development, responsible for utilizing business opportunities with other FPS Group members. She has worked for FPS Sri Lanka for six years. Nisansala Ranasinghe was promoted to head of documentation. She is now responsible for enhancing customer service, with particular focus on documentation accuracy. She joined FPS in 2007. Ayanthi Ranasinghe now heads up FPS’ customer service function. She joined FPS in 2007.
The Seabury Group, a global advisory firm, announced the expansion of its Amsterdam-based cargo advisory team. Dirk de Rooij has joined the company as commercial director cargo, and Daniel dos Reis Miranda has been appointed head of business intelligence & data analytics. De Rooij will lead efforts to further expand the cargo advisory database network, which incorporates more than 65 clients worldwide. In his previous positions as head of community integration & eCargo at CHAMP Cargosystems and executive vice president at OAG Cargo, de Rooij was responsible for deployment of data communication products within the air cargo community. Dos Reis Miranda has 13 years of experience in the aviation industry, most recently serving as head of traffic analysis & forecasts at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. Prior to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, he held several research positions.