Air Canada has set itself on a collision course with proud Canadian francophones after the airline, based in the French-speaking city of Montreal in Quebec, announced that it was appointing another non-native French speaker as its next chief executive.
For context, Air Canada has been on the hunt for a new chief executive since March, when the incumbent CEO, Michael Rousseau, announced his retirement after coming under intense pressure for his lack of French-speaking skills.
Rousseau’s demise followed a controversial video statement that he posted in the wake of the fatal crash of Air Canada flight AC-8646 at LaGuardia Airport, which claimed the lives of both pilots and left a flight attendant with horrific, life-changing injuries.
Despite promising to learn French in 2021 after an ill-fated speech at abuisness conference in Quebec, Rousseau delivered the AC-8646 video in English, with French subtitles. Rousseau immediately came under fire from French-speaking lawmakers who called for his resignation.
Rousseau apologized for his lack of French-speaking skills, initially claiming he would double down on his French language classes in a bid to keep his job. Days later, however, Rousseau announced he was stepping down.
Since then, Air Canada has been on the hunt for a new chief executive, and in recent days, it was becoming increasingly evident that the airline was leaning towards hiring industry veteran Anko van der Werff, who is currently the CEO of Scandinavian airline SAS.
On Wednesday, the airline made the news official, saying that van der Werff would take the helm of Air Canada by the end of January 2027.
Van der Werff has been chief executive at SAS for five years, and during his tenure, he has seen the airline through a major restructuring after the carrier filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Coming out the other side of that process, SAS was sold to a consortium, including the Air France-KLM Group, and Castlelake (the latter of which is currently trying to buy EasyJet).
Prior to joining SAS, Van der Werff was the chief executive of Colombian airline Avianca, and before that, he held senior leadership positions at Aeroméxico, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, and Qatar Airways.
Originally from the Netherlands, van der Werff is fluent in both Dutch and English, as well as Spanish. His French skills are, however, more limited, although Air Canada says he is able to communicate in the language.
Canadian francophones had been hoping Air Canada would hire a native French speaker as its next chief executive, although, presumably, given van der Werff’s multi-lingual abilities, the board of directors has confidence he’ll be able to quickly pick up French.
Air Canada said its search for a new chief executive had included a number of performance criteria, including the ability to speak French.
Why Air Canada chose van der Werff despite the obvious language barrier is hidden within the lines of Wednesday’s press release.
Explaining the decision, Air Canada’s chair of the board of directors, Vagn Sørensen, said van der Werff would “drive further value-creating growth and transformation while maintaining our commitment to disciplined capital allocation.”
In other words, van der Werff is being brought in to shake things up at Air Canada.
