oneworld Alliance to get a new CEO

oneworld CEO Bruce Ashby is due to step down after more than five years leading what is arguably the world’s foremost airline alliance. While no date for a handover has been indicated, he has indicated that he is available to stay in the post until June to enable selection of a successor.

…. It has been a privilege to lead oneworld and work with its collection of the world’s leading airlines, but after five years in this role it makes sense for me to move on at this time. Bruce Ashby, oneworld CEO

The oneworld Governing Board has now began an appointment process to fill his position where candidates from within the alliance and from outside will be considered.

Since Bruce Ashby took up his oneworld role in December 2010, the group has undergone the biggest and fastest expansion undertaken by any global airline alliance, adding more than 15 carriers as full or affiliate members to the oneworld Alliance, expanding the alliance’s capacity by almost 60 per cent and its annual passenger carryings by 75 per cent.

An Expanded Alliance

The expanded Alliance includes airlines from North and South American Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

• TAM Airlines, the leading airline in Latin America’s leading economy Brazil, consolidating oneworld’s position as the continent’s top alliance.
• US Airways, which made oneworld the leading alliance in the USA, the world’s biggest single air travel market. US Airways has since been integrated into oneworld founding member American Airlines.
• Qatar Airways, the only one of the Big Three Gulf carriers to join any global airline group, making oneworld the leading alliance in the Middle East, one of the world’s fastest growing regions for air travel.
• airberlin, the second biggest airline in Europe’s largest economy, Germany, and one of the continent’s biggest carriers.
• Malaysia Airlines, one of South East Asia’s top carriers.
• SriLankan Airlines, the first carrier from the Indian sub-continent to join any of the global airline groups.
• Significant additional affiliate members, including LAN Colombia and OpenSkies.