EasyJet today confirmed that its new chief executive is Carolyn McCall, the head of the Guardian Media Group.
Ms McCall has no experience of the cut-throat airline industry and is leaving one company in turmoil for another beset by management rows and departures.
The carrier, which handles more passengers in the UK than any other airline including British Airways, announced that Ms McCall will replace Andy Harrison who is swapping budget aviation for budget hotels by becoming the chief executive of Whitbread, the company that owns the Premier Inn chain.
The appointment will cause surprise in some quarters. Not only is Ms McCall an industry outsider but few women have reached the top of the airline industry.
Related LinksCarolyn McCall to take the helm at easyJetWhitbread names ex-easyJet boss as new chiefEasyJet maintenance firm shuts at StanstedOne easyJet insider defended the appointment. Few people believed easyJet would appoint a chief executive from within the airline industry, he said.
The airline has been looking for someone who has experience of a highly competitive market, someone from a consumerfacing industry, someone at home with the transition to the internet and someone adept at government lobbying. Carolyn McCall was a very impressive candidate.
The position became available only after Mr Harrison decided to quit following an internecine battle with the airlines founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou who at one stage, as a non-executive director of the company, refused to sign off its accounts, so deep had the divisions with Mr Harrison and the then chairman Sir Colin Chandler become.
Sir Colin subsequently walked out and has since been replaced by Sir Mike Rake, the chairman of BT and the former head of KPMG, the accountancy giant.
Mc McCall said: "I am proud to become the chief executive of a company that has achieved so much in the past 15 years, not least a leading presence on Europe"s most popular routes.
"My priority will be to build on easyJet"s strengths: a strong consumer proposition, leadership positions in many of Europe"s key airports, and an operating model built around simplicity and low cost.
Sir Mike said: "On behalf of the board, I am delighted to welcome Carolyn to easyJet. Following a thorough process involving a number of high calibre candidates we have unanimously chosen a strong chief executive with the strategic ability, operational capability and passion to drive easyJet through the next stage of its development and we look forward to working with Carolyn."
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