Malaysia Airlines CEO Peter Bellew is returning to Ryanair as the airline’s Chief Operations Officer. He will take over responsibility for all Ryanair’s flight operations, ground operations and engineering but with a specific responsibility for pilot production, training and career development.
Ryanair said he will have “a mission to ensure that the pilot rostering failure which Ryanair suffered in early September will never be repeated”.
Peter Bellew, who hails from Co Meath, previously worked in Ryanair until 2014, latterly as Director Flight Operations, will join the Ryanair team in Dublin from Friday, December 1.
Bellew’s first venture into aviation management was in 1993 when he was a director and general manager or Kerry Airport, where he grew passenger numbers from 6,000 to over 400,000.
Peter Bellew CEO of Malaysia Airlines
He joined Ryanair In 2006 as deputy director of flight operations, and had hold various capacities there, including head of sales and marketing, director of flight operations, as well as director of training and recruitment. In 2015 he joined Malaysia Airlines as Chief Operations Officer. He oversaw parts of the restructuring led by former Aer Lingus CEO Christoph Mueller that saw a 6,000-job cut by the airline. He succeeded Mueller as CEO in July 2016.
Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said: “Having worked previously in a senior role in our Operations team, Peter has an unrivalled knowledge of our business model and how we maintain controlled growth, with industry leading punctuality, for the benefit of our customers and our people. Peter will lead a significant transformation in the way we reward and interact with our pilots, improve their working environment and career development over the coming years as we grow the fleet to some 600 aircraft and expand our traffic, at lower fares, to 200m customers per annum.”
Peter Bellew said: “I am excited to return home to Ryanair and take up the challenge to grow the operation sustainably. I look forward to working with all the team and all the crews I know so well to further develop our growth to 600 aircraft over the next six years.”
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