Dive Brief:
-
London’s Heathrow Airport is expected later this week to move its CFO, Javier Echave, into the role of chief operating officer.
-
The company announced in early April that current COO Emma Gilthorpe was leaving to take the CEO seat at British postal service and courier company Royal Mail. Echave was tapped to replace her, effective April 26.
-
Sally Ding, Heathrow’s director of treasury and corporate finance, is set to become acting CFO pending a search for a permanent replacement.
Dive Insight:
Echave is exiting the CFO role on a high note, with Heathrow announcing Wednesday that a record 18.5 million passengers traveled through the airport during the first quarter.
“It has been a successful start to the year thanks to colleagues delivering a consistent, reliable service to our passengers,” Echave said in a press release. “As I close the chapter on eight years as CFO, I’m proud that Heathrow is on a strong financial footing with a clear flightpath ahead.”
In February, the company said it managed to swing back to a profit last year for the first time since 2019. The company reported an annual adjusted pretax profit of £38 million pounds for 2023, up from a loss of £684 million pounds in 2022.
Echave has spent 16 years at Heathrow, according to his LinkedIn profile. He became CFO in 2016 and previously served in other finance-related roles at the company, including as its business finance director.
“He has helped shape the company’s business plan and secured the robustness of Heathrow’s financial position while transforming our corporate processes and building a winning Finance team with a strong performance culture and record levels of engagement,” the company said when his new role was announced.
