Shannon Airport Authority appoints new CEO

Ireland's Shannon Airport Authority announced (21-May-2013) the appointment of Neil Pakey as CEO. He will take up the position on 10-Jun-2013 and his appointment is for a three-year term. Mr Pakey has, since 2010, been the senior director network marketing of the Vantage Airports Group with responsibility for 18 airports worldwide. The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Mr Leo Varadkar TD, welcomed Mr Pakey's appointment as CEO, and stated: "Mr Pakey will lead Shannon Airport as it sets out on its own path to secure financial and commercial success, now free to determine its own future. A key priority for the new CEO and the new board of Shannon Airport will be to arrest the decline in passenger numbers which has been the trend for the last five years, and then reverse it". He added: " Mr Pakey will also become the CEO of the new Shannon entity to be formed from the merger of Shannon Airport with a restructured Shannon Development, which will develop a broadly-based aviation industry cluster in and around the airport providing a strong employment stimulus in the Shannon region. The drafting of the Bill to provide for this merger will be carried out over the summer and will be brought through the Houses of the Oireachtas during the autumn session." [more - original PR]