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Aurigny has announced the retirement of its long-serving Chief Executive Mark Darby, who will be replaced by the founder of a South African airline.
Mr Darby has headed up the States-owned airline since 2013, but decided in February that it was time to move on, leading to an extensive search for a replacement in the last six months.
Nico Bezuidenhout, Founder and former Chief Executive of Mango Airlines, a subsidiary of South African Airways, will be joining Aurigny as its new Chief Executive in the next few months. Once the handover has taken place, Mr Darby will continue in an advisory capacity until his contract ends in 2021.
An Aurigny spokesperson paid tribute to the company's outgoing Chief Executive: "Since Mark took over as Chief Executive of Aurigny in 2013 he has overseen the modernisation of Aurigny, a complete fleet renewal including the introduction of the Embraer E195 jet; the replacement of the old ATRs with new ATR 72-600s; and the replacement of the aging Trislander fleet with Dornier 228NG aircraft.
Pictured: Mark Darby oversaw the purchase of the airline's Embraer jet during his seven-year reign.
"He has also been responsible for the creation of Aurigny’s own ground handling operations at London Gatwick and overseen the complete overhaul of the air-fare tariff options and the launch of an updated website. Mark was able to drive the business close to its break-even target on its services in 2018 under the framework agreed with Aurigny’s shareholder, the States of Guernsey in its ‘Memorandum of Understanding’."
The airline said Mr Bezuidenhout was the preferred candidate from a "number of highly qualified airline executives from various parts of the world."
"Over a 20 year career in aviation, Nico has also previously been interim CEO of the South African Group itself and CEO of Fastjet PLC, a London listed airline established and operated under brand licence from the Easyjet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou," said the spokesperson.
Pictured: Mango Airlines, the company Mr Bezuidenhout founded and headed up, describes itself as a "low-cost carrier" committed to "innovation and convenience".
In a separate announcement, Chairman Andrew Haining, who signalled his intention to leave the airline last year, has been replaced by Kevin George.
"Kevin has over 40 years aviation and transportation industry experience rising to senior positions at British Airways, CEO of Monarch Airlines in its profitable years and latterly as chief executive of the Isle of Wight ferry operator, Red Funnel. He is currently Chairman of the Red Funnel Group, Chairman of the UK Sailing Academy and a Non-Executive Director of The Isles of Scilly Steamship Group, including its Skybus operation."
Pictured top: Outgoing Aurigny Chief Executive Mark Darby.
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