More boardroom changes for Hong Kong Airlines as new CEO joins from HNA Group and president Wang Liya quits
- Outgoing president joins long list of top brass leaving their jobs at ailing carrier
- Worries about the company’s financial health have grown in the past six months
The managerial merry-go-round at the top of Hong Kong Airlines continued on Thursday, as a new CEO and finance chief joined from the HNA Group and the company’s president quit.
Sun Jianfeng, a director of Hong Kong Airlines Holdings, the carrier’s holding company, was installed as chief executive – a newly created role – and Li Neng was made chief finance officer, according to sources.
Sun has held jobs at the carrier and at Hainan Airlines, the flagship business of HNA, which has an approximately 29 per cent stake in Hong Kong Airlines.
The new arrivals, which the company did not formally announce, added to the series of changes in recent weeks. That included frenetic boardroom activity at HNA, amid a court case to determine who controls the company.
The airline said president Wang Liya – an outsider originally drafted from the national aviation regulator – would step down into an advisory role. His job was the closest thing the company had to a chief executive, before the appointment of Sun, who will now be the airline’s designated liaison with the Civil Aviation Department.
