Ryanair has announced that Peter Bellew will re-join the low-cost carrier as chief operations officer.
The move follows the departure of Michael Hickey, who stepped down earlier this month after the low-cost carrier was forced to cancel tens of thousands of flights due to a lack of pilots.
Bellew, who is currently the chief executive of Malaysia Airlines, will take over responsibility for all Ryanair’s flight operations, ground operations and engineering but with a specific responsibility for pilot production, training and career development.
He will be given a mission to ensure that the pilot rostering failure which Ryanair suffered in early September will never be repeated, the carrier said.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said: “We are pleased to welcome Peter back to Ryanair.
“Having worked previously in a senior role in our operations team, Peter has an unrivalled knowledge of our business model and how we maintain controlled growth, with industry leading punctuality, for the benefit of our customers and our people.
“Peter will lead a significant transformation in the way we reward and interact with our pilots, improve their working environment and career development over the coming years as we grow the fleet to some 600 aircraft.”
Bellew, who previously worked in Ryanair until 2014, latterly as director flight operations, will join the Ryanair team in Dublin from December.
Bellew said: “I am excited to return home to Ryanair and take up the challenge to grow the operation sustainably.
“I look forward to working with all the team and all the crews I know so well to further develop our growth to 600 aircraft over the next six years.”