Willie Walsh, the Chief Executive Officer of International Airlines Group (IAG), parent company of airlines including British Airways and Iberia, has announced that he will step down from his role on March 26. He had previously announced that he will retire before his 60th birthday in October 2021.
The current CEO of Spanish flag-carrier Iberia, Luis Gallego, is announced as his designated successor. He will take over his new role on March 27th, and take full control over IAG once Willie Walsh has fully stepped down from his positions by June 30th. A new Chief Executive for Iberia has yet to be announced.
Willie Walsh started his career at the age of 17 when he began training as a Boeing 737 pilot at Aer Lingus. After advancing to a captain’s position he was appointed as CEO of Spanish charter airline Futura in 1998 which he left again in 2000 to become the COO (Chief Operating Officer) at Aer Lingus. Only a year later he was appointed as the new CEO of the airline.
After a brief stint at Virgin Atlantic, Willie Walsh became the new CEO of British Airways in October 2005 and oversaw the merger of British Airways and Iberia in January 2011 to form the International Airlines Group which he has been the CEO of ever since and has been expanding the group with new airlines with his latest coup involving the proposed purchase of Spanish carrier Air Europa.
Read more: IAG to acquire Iberia competitor Air Europa
Jan-Hendrik is an aviation enthusiast from Germany, loves to travel the world and fly on as many aircraft as possible. His first flight was with a Condor 757 to Spain and has been interested in aviation ever since. His fields of expertise are aircraft accidents and passenger experience (PaxEx).
