The former Aer Lingus boss Willie Walsh has been named as the new Chief Executive of British Airways.
BA, Europe's second largest airline, said in a statement that its current chief Rod Eddington, 55, would retire at the end of September this year.
Walsh, 43, who left the top job at Aer Lingus earlier this year, will start as chief executive designate on May 3.
'Many commentators have rightly said that Rod Eddington will be a hard act to follow, but I am completely confident that in Willie we have captured the very best person for the job,' BA Chairman Martin Broughton said.
Sources confirmed yesterday that Eddington planned to return to his native Australia later this year.
Outspoken Eddington has slashed costs and cut 13,000 jobs during his tenure at BA and is credited with ensuring the airline survived a slump in global travel following the September 2001 attacks on the US.
Walsh had been touted in the media as a potential candidate to succeed Eddington, but the market had not been expecting an appointment to be announced so soon.
There had been some speculation that Willie Walsh, along with Aer Lingus' former chief operations officer Seamus Kearney and the airline's finance director Brian Dunne were planning to establish a new airline themselves. The three announced their retirement from the national carrier in November.
Eddington, former boss at Australian airline Ansett and Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific, plans to concentrate on non-executive board positions in Australia.
A BA spokeswoman would not say how much Walsh would be paid, but noted Eddington's annual base salary is £558,000 sterling.
'This is an outstanding opportunity to be at the helm of what many people see as the best airline in the world and I'm very excited at the prospect of joining the team,' commented Willie Walsh after today's announcement.
Walsh joined Aer Lingus as a 17-year-old cadet pilot in 1979 and worked through the ranks to become a captain in 1990. He was appointed as CEO of Futura, Aer Lingus' charter airline in Spain in 1998. He returned to Dublin as Aer Lingus Chief Operating Officer in 2000 and become CEO after the September 11 attacks in the US.
Aer Lingus said this afternoon that it is 'delighted' to learn of Willie Walsh's appointment as Chief Executive designate at British Airways.
'We would like to reiterate our thanks to Mr Walsh for the significant contribution he made to the turnaround of the airline,' a statement from the airline said.
'The appointment is a testament to the business transformation he led at Aer Lingus and we would like to extend our best wishes to him in his future career and we look forward to working with him in the context of the Oneworld Alliance', it added.
Ryanair's Chief Executive, Michael O'Leary said: 'Aer Lingus' loss is BA's gain. We wish Willie every success in the new job'.
