Flybe has a new chairman after the regional airline said it had parted ways with Jim French, its Scots-born former chief executive.
Mr French gave up the CEO’s role at the start of August, making way for ex-easyJet chief financial officer Saad Hammad.
At the time, Exeter-based Flybe said Mr French was staying on as non-executive chairman.
But in the latest of a string of boardroom changes, the airline said yesterday that Mr French had left the firm.
It also announced that Simon Laffin, group finance and property director at supermarket Safeway between 1994 and 2004, had taken over as chairman. Mr Laffin has also been on the boards at Aegis Group, Mitchells & Butlers, Northern Rock and Hozelock Group.
Flybe, which operates from all the major Scottish airports and smaller ones in the Highlands and islands through a franchise deal with Paisley-based Loganair, is carrying out a cost-cutting programme in an effort to recover from hefty losses.
The troubled carrier also recently unveiled plans to merge two divisions, Flybe UK and Flybe Outsourcing Solutions. The restructuring led to the departure of three senior executives: Andrew Strong Mike Rutter and Mark Chown.
Paul Simmons, previously easyJet’s UK director joined Flybe as chief commercial officer last month.
The changes follow a plunge deeper into the red by the airline in the year to March 31. Pre-tax losses widened to £23.2million, from a deficit of £7.1million the year before. Passenger numbers dipped by 1.1% to 7.3million as capacity was cut by 2.7%, while job cuts cut staffing 21% from the headcount and pilots pay was cut by up to 5%.
Mr French, 60, began his aviation career in 1970 with Scottish airline Caledonian Airways – just a year before it became British Caledonian.
He joined Flybe in 1990, when it was named Jersey European Airways, being appointed commercial director soon after and later becoming deputy chief executive and chief operating officer.
In June 2001, he was appointed managing director and set about reorganising and modernising the business.
Under his leadership, Flybe was transformed from a loss-making carrier into one of Europe’s largest, fastest-growing and dynamic airlines. In 2004, Mr French was made a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society for his contribution to aviation.
Announcing his departure from Flybe, the airline said: “Jim French deserves recognition as the architect of Flybe’s development into a leading regional airline.”