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Air Canada on Wednesday named Anko Van der Werff as its next president and CEO.
Van der Werff, currently president and chief executive officer at Scandinavian Airlines, will take on the new role by January.
“It is an honour to be chosen to lead this iconic Canadian company as it advances its ambitions and strategy,” Van der Werff said in a news release.
Before his current post, Van der Werff served as CEO of the South American airline Avianca, and worked in other high-up roles including Aeromexico, Qatar Airways and KLM, according to his LinkedIn. He’s also served on the boards of international organizations in the aviation and business sectors.
Van der Werff succeeds Michael Rousseau, who announced his retirement after 19 years with Air Canada earlier this year, following a controversial English-only condolence announcement about the deadly crash at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.
The runway crash between a fire truck and Air Canada Express Flight 8646 killed both pilots — one of whom was from Quebec — and sent many passengers to hospital.
His four-minute video message was delivered in English with French subtitles, aside from Rousseau saying “bonjour” at the beginning and “merci” at the end.
Air Canada has announced CEO Michael Rousseau will retire by this fall, one week after he was roundly criticized for releasing an English-only condolence video following a deadly collision between an Air Canada plane and a fire truck at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.
The video caused backlash among French-speaking Canadians, and Parliament’s official languages committee summoned Rousseau to Ottawa to answer questions.
Rousseau’s retirement is effective Aug. 31, and the airline’s executive committee will report to the board of directors during the transition period, the release noted.
Choosing Van der Werff was the result of a “comprehensive global search” with a number of performance criteria according to Air Canada — including the ability to speak in French.
As a native of the Netherlands, Van der Werff speaks Dutch, but is “able to communicate in French” according to Air Canada. He also speaks English and has learned Spanish, Italian and Swedish throughout his career.
Air Canada’s website has an English and French version of a greeting from Van der Werff alongside the press release, depending on whether users view the site’s English or French pages.
In the English version, Van der Werff says he is “mindful of the importance of serving Canadians in both official languages,” which he called a fundamental responsibility of the airline.