Marco Sansavini has already taken the reins of Iberia. The former president of Vueling replaces Fernando Candela with the aim of maintaining or improving the company’s historical results last year, which led it to earn 940 million. His priority will also be to close the purchase of Air Europa this year to boost the Madrid-Barajas hub, and to achieve profitability in the handling and maintenance businesses through the new company that will be created.
The first novelty of the Sansavini era in Iberia has been to renew the management committee. It is formed as follows: Rafael Jiménez Hoyos is the production director; María Jesús López, the commercial manager, network development, alliances and clients; Gabriel Perdiguero will lead the finance, transformation and technology area; and Juan Cierco remains as corporate director. The rest of the executives are José Luis de Luna, director of labor relations, legal and human resources; María Bello, about people and diversity; and Enrique Robledo, maintenance director.
One of Sansavini’s priorities is to incorporate Air Europa into the IAG catalogue. The group maintains technical conversations with the European Commission with the aim of obtaining approval from the Competition authorities. The agreement with Globalia ends in February 2025. The challenge, explained the president of Iberia, is “to bring Madrid to the level of the hubs of northern Europe, putting Spain and Iberia in the aviation Champions League. Something that can only be achieved with a strong company that can connect Spain with many more destinations and hence the vital importance of the Air Europa purchase operation.”
Sansavini affirms that IAG and Iberia have made “a very ambitious offer to guarantee competition on the routes where we operate and we trust that the European Commission will approve the operation, key for the connectivity of the Madrid hub, for consumers, employment and the tourism and the economy of Spain”.
Regarding the new handling company, which arises after the problems with the Aena contest in which Iberia lost important lots, the airline plans to establish it over the coming months. The objective is to provide service to the brands of the IAG group.
Marco Sansavini returns to Iberia where for eight years, between 2012 and 2020, he was commercial director. In 2020 he was appointed CEO of Vueling, another of the IAG group companies. Before landing at IAG, the executive worked at KLM, the merged Air France-KLM and Alitalia.
