New CEO appointed at Shannon

A FORMER managing director of Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport has been appointed as the new CEO of Shannon.
Fifty-two year-old Neil Pakey’s appointment was announced on Tuesday morning.
The Scot faces a difficult task, with passenger numbers standing at just 1.4 million last year, with a target of 2.5 million by 2018. However, in the past he was involved in phenomenal growth at Liverpool, where passenger numbers increased from 867,000 to 5.5 million while he was managing director from 2002 to 2010.
Mr Pakey was also part of senior management at Manchester Airport, at a time when passenger numbers went from under six million to over 16 million.
From 2006 to 2010, Mr Pakey held the positions of deputy CEO and CEO of Peel Airports Ltd, which owned Doncaster Sheffield and Durham Tees Airports, as well as Liverpool John Lennon. Turnover increased under his stewardship and he brought it from being loss-making to returning seven-figure profits.
Following Vantage Airports Group investment in Peel Airports in 2010, he was appointed senior director, network marketing of Vantage, with responsibility for leading the air services development of 18 airports in Canada, Cyprus, the Caribbean and Britain.
He held senior positions at Air Seychelles and British Caledonian Airways and served as the UK national expert in the aviation division of the European Commission from 1991 to 1994, specifically supporting the development of the EU air liberalisation programme.  He also had three terms as chair of the UK Airport Operators Association. From 1999 to 2002 he was involved in commercialising a former RAF base at Doncaster, which secured 1.1 million passengers in its first year.
Mr Pakey was involved in rebranding the Liverpool airport under the name John Lennon. Other projects he was involved with included attracting new airlines, building a new terminal and runway resurfacing programmes.
A major challenge at Liverpool was competing with Manchester Airport, a much larger neighbour. Now, he will face a somewhat similar issue, as improvements in the road network have made Dublin so much more accessible and seen Shannon losing out.
Mr Pakey first secured a degree in English and politics, before taking an MSc in transport planning and management and a post-graduate diploma in marketing.
He will take up his new position on June 10 and his appointment is for three years.
Speaking about his appointment, he said, “I am honoured to be offered the opportunity to lead Shannon Airport. I am attracted to the situation largely because of the strong commitment to teamwork and stakeholder engagement of the new board of directors.
“My aim is to build the business and lead a team dedicated to achieving operational excellence, superior customer service, efficiency in all functions and with full support for our airlines, partners and stakeholders.”