Scandinavian Airlines System Aktiebolag (SAS AB) has announced that the Board of Directors has appointed Avianca Holdings’ CEO Anko van der Werff as the new President and CEO of SAS AB. He will take up his new position with the Group on July 15, 2021.
Van der Werff has held senior positions in the aviation industry, having spent ten years with Air France KLM between 2000 and 2010, rising to the position of Commercial Director U.K./Ireland, United Kingdom. Between 2010 and 2014 van der Werff worked at Qatar Airways Group in a number of roles including SVP Pricing & Revenue Management, while between 2014 and 2019 he was the Executive Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer at Groupo Aeromexico. In 2019 until the present time, he has been the President & Chief Executive Officer of Avianca Holdings.
Chairman of SAS AB’s Board of Directors, Carsten Dilling commented: “After an extensive, thorough, and intense process, I have been excited to see the comprehensive field of top talented candidates from the global airline industry that SAS as a brand is attracting – further strengthened by a large interest in SAS’ ambitious efforts within sustainability. Therefore, I’m proud that we today [April 28] can announce Anko van der Werff as new CEO for SAS AB.
