Oneworld Alliance Plans HQ Move To New York

Bruce Ashby is taking the reins of the Oneworld alliance under a restructuring that relocates the alliance’s headquarters to New York from Vancouver.

Ashby, with immediate effect, assumes the responsibilities currently held by John McCulloch, who is citing family reasons for leaving the managing partner role he has held for the past seven years. Ashby will head the organization as CEO.

Ashby will lead a “central team” of 25 staff that will relocate to New York mid-2011. The 46,200-sq.-ft. (4,300-sq.-meter) office at 2 Park Ave. also will become the New York office for American Airlines and British Airways, and will house the team managing the new transatlantic joint venture of American, BA and Iberia. Several other Oneworld carriers are also expected to relocate their New York operations to the Manhattan office, the alliance notes.

“Oneworld has set the benchmark in the increasingly important arena of airline alliances, with its grouping of best-in-class carriers from each region and its focus on quality and innovation. It is a privilege to be invited to succeed John McCulloch to lead Oneworld forward as it becomes an even more vital element of its member airlines’ own strategies,” says Ashby.

The new CEO entered the airline industry in 1987 as a consultant, and was named manager for operations research in 1989 by United Airlines. He remained there for six years, holding several VP titles, before joining Delta Air Lines in 1995 as VP-marketing development.

Ashby then moved to US Airways in 1996 as VP-financial planning and analysis, and rose through management to become executive VP-marketing. In 2005, he left to head Indian carrier IndiGo, where he stayed until 2008 when senior management ranks were culled, and then joined Saudi Arabian low-cost carrier Sama Airlines as CEO.

Sama ceased operations in August (Aviation Daily, Aug. 24).

“The relocation of our central alliance team to the world’s biggest airline market at this stage in Oneworld’s evolution makes clear sense,” says McCulloch.

Separately, Delta says Nicolas Ferri is leaving Oneworld as VP-sales to assume a newly created VP–Latin America and the Caribbean role on Jan. 1. Ferri will report to Delta President Ed Bastian.