Air Namibia appoints COO

Air Namibia has recruited a heavy weight operator to help improve its operational efficiency. The airline’s Board of Directors announced this week the appointment of a Swiss national as Chief Operating Officer (COO) with effect from 04 November 2013.
The 50-year-old Rene Gsponer will have direct management responsibility for all Air Namibia’s flight operations, maintenance and engineering, as well as airport services functions. In a statement, the airline said Gsponer brings along extensive knowledge and experience gained over 27 years in the airline industry covering operations performance improvement and optimization, maintenance and engineering planning, flight operations, safety, security and airline operations quality audits, on-time performance, airport hub efficiencies, strategic business leadership, business process redesign and improvement training, and finally organisational realignment. Gsponer previously served at the International Air Transport Association (IATA) as a Senior Aviation Consultant in the areas of Operations, Fuel and Environment Management from 2006 to October 2013. He also had stints at Thomas Cook AG in Frankfurt, Germany; Aircraft manufacturer, Fairchild Dornier in Munich Germany; GAMCO / Gulf Air – Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, and Swiss Air in Switzerland. The COO is tasked to ensure that Air Namibia develops the highest standards of operational integrity and efficiency with the goal of providing desired levels of customer experience, safety, security and regulatory compliance, effectively and efficiently.