Air Canada announced the appointment of Anko Van der Werff as the incoming president and CEO. Van der Werff, who currently holds the position of president and CEO at Scandinavian Airlines, is set to assume his new role by January. Expressing his gratitude, Van der Werff stated, “It is an honor to be selected to lead this renowned Canadian company as it pursues its goals and strategies.”
Prior to his current role, Van der Werff held the position of CEO at Avianca, a South American airline. He also has a background in leadership roles at Aeromexico, Qatar Airways, and KLM. Additionally, he has experience serving on the boards of various international organizations within the aviation and business sectors.
Van der Werff will be taking over from Michael Rousseau, who announced his retirement from Air Canada earlier this year after a tenure of 19 years. Rousseau’s retirement followed controversy over an English-only condolence statement regarding a tragic crash at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, which claimed the lives of both pilots and injured several passengers.
Rousseau faced criticism for his lack of proficiency in French, with the official languages committee summoning him to Ottawa for questioning. Despite efforts to improve his French language skills, Rousseau expressed regret that his language abilities detracted from addressing the tragedy adequately.
Van der Werff’s selection followed a global search by Air Canada, with one of the key criteria being proficiency in French. Hailing from the Netherlands, Van der Werff is fluent in Dutch and has a working knowledge of French along with proficiency in English. He has also acquired proficiency in Spanish, Italian, and Swedish throughout his career.
In a statement on Air Canada’s website, Van der Werff emphasized the importance of serving Canadians in both official languages, highlighting it as a fundamental responsibility of the airline. The website offers both English and French versions of the announcement, reflecting the bilingual nature of the airline’s operations.