Luis Gallego

Luis Gallego Martín is a Spanish engineer, businessman and the chief executive officer (CEO) of Iberia. In 2020 he will succeed Willie Walsh as CEO of International Airlines Group.

This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Gallego and the second or maternal family name is Martín.
Luis Gallego
Luis Gallego in 2015
NationalitySpanish
EducationTechnical University of Madrid
University of Navarra
TitleCEO of Iberia

Early life and education

He originates from Getafe, an industrial area of Madrid.[1]

He studied at Colegio La Inmaculada - PP. Escolapios (Piarists) of Getafe, holds a degree in aeronautical engineering from the Technical University of Madrid and an Executive Development Programme (PDD) qualification from the IESE Business School (University of Navarra).[2][3]

Career

He began his career in the Spanish Air Force, and has since worked in Aviaco, INDRA and, between 1997 and 2006, in several positions with the Iberia franchise partner Air Nostrum, where he became technical manager of workshop maintenance until his transfer to Clickair, prior to its merger with Vueling.

At Vueling, he held the post of production manager, with responsibility for flight operations, training, quality, safety, maintenance, and ground operations. With a total of 47 aircraft and more than 1,600 employees under his command, he and his team achieved the highest ratings for punctuality, regularity, and customer satisfaction of any Spanish airline.

He was CEO of Iberia Express from 2012 until he was appointed Iberia's CEO on 27 March 2013. From 1 January 2014 onwards he was also Iberia's chairman. He is also a member of International Airlines Group (IAG)'s management committee, a holding made up of Iberia, Vueling, Aer Lingus and British Airways.

Luis Gallego at the "rerun" of the Madrid-Tokyo flight.

At Iberia he was for having lead the transformation and modernization process of the airline. In his first year as CEO, he cut the airline's losses by half, while in his second year in office, he was touted as being able to make Iberia profitable after six years of operating losses. He reached labour agreements with all Iberia's staff groups to reduce labour costs and increase employees' productivity. Since then, Iberia's quality and recommendation indexes of the airline's customers reached a record level and it became one of the world's most punctual airlines.[4]

On 9 January 2020 he was set to replace Willie Walsh as CEO of IAG, but it was announced on 16 March that Walsh intended to delay his retirement in order to help the airline trade through the outbreak of COVID-19. The date of Walsh's departure was subsequently pushed back to 24 September.[5] The new Iberia CEO will be chairman and CEO of Vueling, Javier Sánchez-Prieto.[6]

Personal life

He supports Real Madrid CF.[1]

References
  1. Georgiadis, Philip (9 January 2020). "Luis Gallego, the Iberia chief set to lead airline group IAG". Financial Times. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  2. Luis Gallego Biography at iairgroup.com
  3. "[ Iberia ] - Corporativa". grupo.iberia.es. Retrieved 2017-03-03.
  4. OAG punctuality league 2014,
  5. "Luis Gallego to be new Chief Executive of IAG" (Press release). newsnreleases.com. 7 May 2020. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  6. Saunders, Eddie (31 January 2020). "New Iberia And Vueling Chief Executives Appointed". airlinergs.com. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
Business positions
Preceded by
Rafael Sánchez-Lozano		 CEO of Ibreia
2013–2020		 Succeeded by
Javier Sánchez-Prieto
Preceded by
Willie Walsh		 CEO-designate of International Airlines Group
2020–present		 Incumbent
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