Hungarian airline Malev announces Briton Lloyd Paxton as new CEO
iht.com
Hungary's Malev Airlines on Thursday announced it had appointed Lloyd Paxton as its new chief executive officer, replacing Janos Gonci.
Paxton, a British national, has held senior positions with British Airways and is founder and president of Kazakhstan's national airline, Air Astana.
Gonci leaves by mutual agreement, the airline said. The switch was not unexpected as Malev had said Gonci was preparing to leave his post but waited until the airline's new owner found his successor.
Gonci will continue his work with Malev as a member of the airline's board of directors.
After several efforts to sell ailing Malev, the Hungarian government in February sold a 99.95 percent stake in the airline to Russian-backed AirBridge, a Hungarian company backed by KrasAir, Russia's fourth-largest airline.
While Malev has debts of some 36 billion forints (US$201 million; €146 million), company executives have said the airline could become profitable in only two years.
