Air France Hires New CEO — First Woman to Lead a Major Airline
This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. For an explanation of our Advertising Policy, visit this page.
After a tumultuous year of staff strikes and resignations, Air France has finally appointed a permanent new CEO, the airline said Wednesday. Even more notable, the woman helming the carrier will be the first-ever female CEO of a major global airline.
Anne Rigail, who was previously Air France’s executive vice president customer division, will take her new office in the C-suite on Monday, Dec. 17. Rigail’s promotion was proposed by Benjamin Smith, who had been appointed acting CEO of Air France until the end of the year, and was approved by the airline’s board of directors at their most recent meeting on Tuesday. (Smith will remain CEO of the parent aviation group Air France-KLM).
“Anne is a strong professional in the airline industry,” Smith said in a statement on Wednesday. “Throughout her career, she has always paid particular attention to employees while implementing the many projects and transformations she has led, and placed the customer at the heart of everything she does. With the support and commitment of every single employee, I am confident we can rise to the challenges for Air France today, ensuring service excellence to all our customers.”
Those challenges Smith mentioned have been significant over the course of the past year. The French airline has been roiled by a series of staff strikes, in which employees demanded higher wages and staged walkouts from February and into the fall. The two feuding sides were only able to negotiate an agreement in October. Staffers will see a 4% pay increase by 2019. The months and months of protests cost the airline at least $380 million in lost revenue, and they cost the former CEO his job.
“I cannot see how I could stay at the head of the company,”former CEO Jean-Marc Janaillac said at a press conference in May after several failed negotiation attempts. Now, Rigail will take over a somewhat placated workforce.
She will also be the first woman to become CEO of a major airline in the world. By comparison, the highest-ranking woman airline executive in the US is JetBlue’s President and Chief Operating Officer Joanna Geraghty, who was promoted to her current role in May. Recent numbers show that there is a notable dearth of female leadership in commercial aviation, especially when compared with other industries. In March, the International Air Transport Association said that only 3% of airline CEOs worldwide were women, compared to 12% of women CEOs in other industries.
Featured image by Air France-KLM.
Sign-up Successful!
Welcome to The Points Guy!
Receive 1 Free Night Award every year after your Card account anniversary. Plus, earn an additional Free Night Award after you spend $60K in purchases on your Card in a calendar year. Awards can be used for one night (redemption level at or under 35,000 Marriott Bonvoy points) at hotels participating in the Marriott Bonvoy program.
- Limited Time Offer: Earn 125,000 Marriott Bonvoy Bonus Points after spending $5,000 in purchases on your new Card in your first 3 months of Card Membership. Offer expires 8/31/22.
- 6x points at hotels participating in the Marriott Bonvoy™ program.
- 4x points for purchases made at restaurants worldwide, at U.S. gas stations, on wireless telephone services purchased directly from U.S. service providers and on U.S. purchases for shipping.
- 2x points on all other eligible purchases.
- Receive a 7% discount off standard rates for reservations of standard guest rooms at hotels that participate in the Marriott Bonvoy program when you book directly. Terms and Conditions Apply.
- Receive 1 Free Night Award every year after your Card renewal month. Plus, earn an additional Free Night Award after you spend $60K in purchases on your Card in a calendar year. Awards can be used for one night (redemption level at or under 35,000 Marriott Bonvoy points) at a participating hotel. Certain hotels have resort fees.
- Enjoy Complimentary Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite Status with your Card.
- Terms apply.
- See Rates & Fees
Disclaimer: The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
Editorial Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airlines or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.