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Bloomberg
EasyJet Plc appointed the former deputy head of holiday giant TUI AG to become its next chief executive officer as Carolyn
McCall prepares to take over at UK broadcaster ITV Plc.
Johan Lundgren, a 51-year-old Swede, will assume the role on December 1, Luton, England-based EasyJet said. McCall will leave the board a day earlier, while assisting with the transition until the end of the year.
EasyJet has been pursuing the succession since revealing in July that McCall, who previously ran Guardian Media Group, planned to switch to television. Lundgren spent 12 years at TUI before leaving in 2015 as the UK arm where he’d worked merged with its German parent, after which he was contractually barred from joining a rival. He has more recently been employed as a travel consultant.
The new chief has proven experience in European transport and is “strategic yet operationally focussed,†EasyJet Chairman John Barton said. Under McCall, Europe’s second-biggest discount airline has expanded at more-major airports to appeal to business travelers and families. That’s helped differentiate the company from bigger rival Ryanair, while sharpening competition with the short-haul units of the region’s three big network carriers.
Lundgren will also be tasked with expanding in Germany after EasyJet last month reached a deal to take over 25 aircraft and slots from defunct Air Berlin Plc. It has likewise expressed an interest in acquiring assets of Alitalia SpA, which has filed for bankruptcy, and defunct UK carrier Monarch Airlines.
The new chief will be paid a salary of 740,000 pounds, with a maximum annual bonus of 200 percent, according to EasyJet.