Air Canada has named Scandinavian Airlines head Anko Van der Werff as the Canadian airline’s next chief executive. The Montreal-based airline says Van der Werff will assume the job and join Air Canada’s board of directors by the end of January 2027.
Air Canada chair Vagn Sorensen said Van der Werff brings an exceptional breadth of international aviation experience and a proven 25-year track record.
A native of the Netherlands, Van der Werff succeeds Michael Rousseau, who is set to retire effective Aug. 31 after 19 years with the airline and five as its CEO. Air Canada says that after Rousseau’s departure and for the transition period, the airline’s executive committee will report to the board of directors.
Before joining SAS in 2021, Van der Werff was chief executive of Avianca, a leading airline in Latin America. He also was chief commercial officer at Aeromexico and held senior leadership positions at Qatar Airways in addition to a number of management roles at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.
Critically, the incoming CEO can speak French, on top of English and several other languages.
“I understand the importance of being able to communicate in French here in Canada,” Van der Werff said in a 6 1/2-minute internal company video message to employees that was delivered entirely in French.
Rousseau was widely criticized for his lack of ability to communicate in French and announced his retirement earlier this year after coming under fire for failing to deliver a video condolence message in French following a plane crash that killed two Air Canada Express pilots.
On top of thorny language issues, Van der Werff will have to navigate an economic environment where Canadian airlines continue to reel from customers’ U.S. travel aversion and the aftershocks of high jet fuel prices caused by the Iran war, all as Air Canada pushes toward a big fleet expansion.
Now in his early 50s, Van der Werff piloted SAS Group — the holding company for Scandinavian Airlines — through bankruptcy protection after a painful restructuring that zapped billions of dollars in debt and ushered in new owners headed by Air France-KLM.
“It’s a tough file,” said Robert Kokonis, president of consulting firm AirTrav Inc. “All the carriers are trying to figure out: where do you redirect your capacity from transborder into other markets?
“Having a leader that is strong and has gone through tough times himself is not necessarily a bad thing,” he said.
Sweeping new aircraft orders at Air Canada over the last eight months seek to expand its long-haul flexibility and fleet efficiency by phasing out older planes at its regional Air Canada Rouge and Air Canada Express services. It has staked some of its hopes on the Airbus A321 XLR, with 30 orders for the single-aisle jet.
“That’s going to give Air Canada the ability to fly a lot of new routes that were previously too thin, routes that were too small for wide-bodies,” Kokonis said.
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