Air Canada announced the appointment of Anko Van der Werff as the next president and CEO, succeeding Michael Rousseau, who retired earlier this year after 19 years with the company. Van der Werff, currently the president and CEO of Scandinavian Airlines, will assume his new role by January.
Prior to his current position, Van der Werff served as the CEO of Avianca in South America and held various senior roles at Aeromexico, Qatar Airways, and KLM. He has also been involved with international aviation and business organizations.
Rousseau faced criticism for releasing an English-only condolence video following a fatal collision at New York’s LaGuardia airport, which resulted in the deaths of both pilots on Air Canada Express Flight 8646. The video caused backlash among French-speaking Canadians, prompting Rousseau to express regret for his language limitations.
Van der Werff, a native of the Netherlands, is multilingual, speaking Dutch, English, and French, along with Spanish, Italian, and Swedish. Air Canada emphasized that the selection of Van der Werff followed a thorough global search process, with proficiency in French being one of the key criteria.
The airline’s website features greetings from Van der Werff in both English and French versions, highlighting his commitment to serving Canadians in both official languages as a fundamental responsibility of the airline.
