Calin Rovinescu Elected as Chairman of the Star Alliance Chief Executive Board

Calin Rovinescu, President and Chief Executive Officer of Air Canada, has been elected as the new Chairman of the Star Alliance Chief Executive Board (CEB).

He succeeds Rob Fyfe, CEO Air New Zealand, who held the post for the last two years.

"On behalf of all Star Alliance members I thank Rob for his personal commitment, support and leadership in driving our alliance forward and in strengthening relations between the alliance partners. Indeed, we have all benefited from Rob's presence as Chairman of the CEB. Following a highly successful seven-year tenure as CEO of Air New Zealand, Rob has elected to retire at year-end and while we are very sad to see him leave, we know that his contributions to the Star Alliance will endure," Rovinescu said.

In his role as CEB Chairman, Rovinescu will conduct the two annual board meetings and act as the designated spokesperson for the board.

Reflecting on his tenure, Fyfe said, "I have been proud to lead the board over the past two years. The Alliance needs careful steering in these testing times for the aviation industry and Calin is an excellent choice to lead the group through the challenges to come."

Rovinescu said he was looking forward to working with the board over the next two years to deepen the alliance and pursue shared priorities. These would include strengthening the global network, focusing on providing a seamless travel experience and maintaining the loyalty of customers through superior service and convenience, he added.

"Partnerships are essential to succeed in this business and few partnerships have been as beneficial to their members and customers as Star Alliance," Rovinescu said. "It is my determination to see that we continue to foster commercial cooperation among member carriers to further strengthen our position as the leading global airline network.”

The CEB is the controlling body of the Alliance and each of the 27 member airlines is represented by their respective CEO. The CEB provides the overall strategic direction of the Alliance, approves the appropriate funding and votes on the admittance of new member airlines.

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