The Chairman of Air Pacific Limited Trading as Fiji Airways, Mr. Nalin Patel, announced today that the Board has appointed Mr. Stefan Pichler as the new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer effective 1 September 2013.
Mr. Patel said that after an extensive global search the Board was delighted to have Mr. Pichler join the company on its road ahead and assured Mr. Pichler of the full support of the Board and experienced management team and also thanked Mr. Swift for acting as the interim CEO until 31 August 2013.
Mr. Pichler is currently Chief Executive Officer of Jazeera Airways where he led the company in the last four years to a remarkable turnaround, achieving the highest operating profit margins in the industry in 2011 and 2012. He was recently awarded the ‘Personal Achievement of the Year Award 2012’ by Business Aviation for the Jazeera Airways turnaround.
Before that, he was responsible for Virgin Blue’s transformation from a low cost carrier to a network airline and served as their Chief Commercial Officer. Mr. Pichler also launched the Chairman and CEO of Thomas Cook AG, where he built the company from a national German tour operator to the world’s second largest leisure group. He has also held Senior and Executive Board roles with Lufthansa AG.
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