Heathrow airport has named its development director John Holland-Kaye (pictured) as its new CEO, with effect from July 1.
Holland-Kaye, who was widely tipped for the job, will replace outgoing CEO Colin Matthews who announced he was stepping down from the role in April.
As development director Holland Kaye was responsible for delivering the £1 billion annual investment in transforming Heathrow, including the new Terminal 2: Queen’s Terminal, which will open to passengers in June.
He joined the company as commercial director in May 2009 and was responsible for a 30 per cent growth in retail income and improved passenger experience.
“I am very proud to have been chosen to succeed Colin as CEO," Holland-Kaye said. "We have worked closely together for the last five years to improve passenger experience, efficiency and resilience, to a point where Heathrow is increasingly seen as Europe’s hub of choice.
“My aspiration is to improve Heathrow as much in the next five years as we have in the last five years.”
Holland-Kaye was previously divisional CEO with Taylor Wimpey, operations director at Taylor Woodrow and divisional managing director at Bass Brewers.
Matthews believes under Holland-Kaye’s leadership the company will continue to “raise standards of passenger experience, improve efficiency and reduce costs”.
“John has played a pivotal role in the delivery of the new Terminal 2, which is a further important step in the transformation of Heathrow,” Matthews said.