Air Malta’s Chief Commercial Officer set for July exit

Air Malta’s Chief Commercial Officer Philip Saunders will be leaving the national airline at the end of July, MaltaToday can reveal.

Contacted by MaltaToday, Saunders confirmed he has taken up a new opportunity but will remain in the aviation industry.

“I have an opportunity elsewhere and decided that after three years at Air Malta this was the right step. The right opportunity came up and I decided to take it up. It’s a normal routine situation,” Saunders said.

Although his contract ends on 3 July, Saunders has agreed to stay on until the end of the month to ensure a smooth transition and give all the possible support in the handover.

MaltaToday is also informed that head of human resources Josephine Abdilla, Chief Financial Officer Nick Xuereb and flight operations chief officer Mark Micallef Eynaud have all left Air Malta.

Together with Air Malta’s chief executive Peter Davies, Saunders was head-hunted to carve up the national airline into a smaller, profit-making outfit as part of the airline’s restructuring plan.

He joined Air Malta in 2011 and was responsible for leading all commercial activity on a day-to-day basis. Saunders enjoys a strong track record built up over 20 years in the industry, with significant experience in turnaround situations.

Saunders held the position of CEO at Caribbean Airlines, where he delivered a sustained transformation of the customer experience and achieved profitability one year ahead of plan.
His previous roles include serving as commercial director at Star Alliance. He was also vice-president commercial at SN Brussels Airlines, where he worked closely with Davies.

Saunders also served in several senior positions at British Airways for over 13 years.