Several weeks ago, we learned how Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau would be “retiring.” This followed the Air Canada accident at LaGuardia, where Rousseau was under fire in Quebec for his inability to speak French, a consistent theme of his tenure.
Language issues aside, I’d argue that Rousseau has been a [insert slightly nicer word than “dud”] during his tenure. He has been one of the least visible airline CEOs we’ve seen in a long time, and it sure seems like the carrier has been propped up by the two Marks (Galardo and Nasr — CCO and COO, respectively).
One big question has been who will become the next CEO. Will someone from within be promoted, or will the airline hire an outsider? I recently wrote about rumors that the current SAS CEO could become the new Air Canada CEO… that has now been confirmed.
The surprising new pick for Air Canada CEO
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) CEO Anko Van der Werff will become the next CEO of Air Canada, and he’ll take on that role by the end of January 2027. Van der Werff is an experienced industry executive — he has been CEO of SAS for around five years, and before that, he was CEO of Avianca for around three years. Before that, he held roles at Aeromexico, Air France-KLM, and Qatar Airways.
Van der Werff has been in charge of the transformation at SAS, as the carrier has gone through bankruptcy protection, and has changed alliances, as Air France-KLM has taken a stake in the carrier.
While people can disagree on the extent to which this should matter, here’s what’s perhaps the most controversial part of Van der Werff for this role — he is fluent in English, Dutch, and Spanish, and has only a basic understanding of French.
Keep in mind that when Air Canada announced it would seek a new CEO, it emphasized how the airline is “proudly headquartered in Montreal,” and that the company will “consider a number of performance criteria in assessing candidates including the ability to communicate in French.” Now, Van der Werff is a smart guy, so perhaps he’ll pick up more fluent French much faster than Rousseau, though that’s also not exactly easy to do with little time.
Here’s what Van der Werff had to say about his new role:
“Air Canada is a globally recognized airline leader. It is an honour to be chosen to lead this iconic Canadian company as it advances its ambitions and strategy, builds on its award-winning employee culture and customer value proposition, and prepares for an even brighter future. I look forward to working closely with Air Canada’s talented executive team and with all employees to fulfil our commitments to shareholders and customers. I am excited about relocating to Montréal and eager to get started.”
Meanwhile here’s what Vagn Sørensen, Chair of the Board of Air Canada, had to say:
“Our Board of Directors was impressed by the quality of experienced executives from around the world who expressed interest in the role. We are delighted to have attracted and recruited an executive of Mr. Van der Werff’s stature to lead Air Canada. He has an exceptional breadth of international aviation experience and a proven 25-year track record, including his most recent forward-looking executive leadership at Scandinavian Airlines, Avianca Group, and Aeroméxico and earlier at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (now Air France-KLM) and Qatar Airways. We are confident he will drive further value-creating growth and transformation while maintaining our commitment to disciplined capital allocation.”
My take on Air Canada’s choice for the new CEO
I’ve never met Van der Werff, but I’ve heard mixed things about him (which… take that with a grain of salt). It sure sounds to me like Van der Werff was chosen for this role because they’re planning some pretty radical changes, and not to maintain the status quo.
Heck, that’s not just speculation. Just look at the Chair of the Board of Air Canada saying that Van der Werff will “drive further value-creating growth and transformation while maintaining our commitment to disciplined capital allocation.” In other words, make us more money, but spend less!
Air Canada’s stock has been trading at around half of its pre-pandemic levels, and the company’s financial guidance remains suspended. Clearly he’s being hired as a turnaround CEO. Now, what that entails remains to be seen, but I suspect it will include some changes customers may not love.
I can’t help but find all of the industry dynamics at play here to be quite fascinating:
- Keep in mind Air France-KLM CEO Ben Smith used to be president of Air Canada, and then he left to take over the top job at Air France-KLM; one wonders how differently everything would’ve played out if Smith were promoted to Air Canada CEO sooner, and the airline could’ve avoided this whole Rousseau situation
- Air Canada is an airline that has generally promoted from within, so appointing an outsider as CEO represents a major shakeup in terms of the overall management structure, as he may want to bring in some of his “own” people
- One wonders how much job security Van der Werff had in his role as SAS CEO; Air France-KLM wants to take a controlling stake in the airline, and when that happens, the company will have more of a say in who the CEO is
I think the topic of promoting from within vs. hiring an outsider is an interesting one. For an airline that needs a major culture change (like American), hiring an outsider, visionary leader who can inspire employees is 100% the right move. Meanwhile in this case, hiring an outsider who is essentially coming in for a financial transformation seems questionable, especially when you have a couple of especially competent leaders immediately below the CEO level.
It sure feels like we’re in a period right now with a lot of airline executive turnover and changes, so I’m very curious to see how this all plays out.
Bottom line
With Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau having recently been fired, one big question has been who will become the next CEO. We now know — SAS CEO Anko Van der Werff has announced he’s leaving the airline, to become the next CEO of Air Canada. Interestingly, he doesn’t appear to be fluent in French, which was a major criteria that was reportedly being considered.
I suspect that hiring someone from outside the company for this role won’t be taken too kindly by existing executives, some of whom are very good at their jobs. As customers, I also wouldn’t be too excited about him being tasked with driving “further value-creating growth and transformation.”
What do you make of Anko Van der Werff becoming Air Canada’s next CEO?