Christine Ourmières-Widener

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Christine Jeanne Ourmières-Widener FRAeS (born 21 September 1964)^[1][2] is a French businesswoman and currently the Chief Executive Officer of TAP Air Portugal.

Early life[]

She was born in Avignon, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. She studied for a degree from the École nationale supérieure de mécanique et d'aérotechnique where she received a degree in aeronautical engineering. She gained a business qualification (master of marketing) from ESSEC Business School.

Career[]

She worked at Air France from 1988, where she started in the maintenance team for the Concorde. Her responsibilities grew into a commercial role where she eventually headed the Air France KLM team for North America based in New York. Subsequently appointed UK and Ireland Managing Director for Air France, she was then named Chief Executive of the Irish airline CityJet, after it was bought by Air France, from 1 October 2010 to 2015.^[3] She was for some time part of the European Regions Airline Association.^[4]

On 20 December 2016, it was announced that she was joining Flybe. She became Chief Executive of Flybe on 16 January 2017. During their annual meeting in 2018, it was announced by the IATA that she had been elected to the board of directors of the organisation. She was the first woman elected to the board of 31 members. She had been appointed interim director on 24 April 2017, when Fernando Pinto stepped down. ^[4]

On 29 May 2019, she resigned as CEO of Flybe, with her departure taking effect on 15 July of the same year. The move came following recurring financial problems in the company, which was subsequently taken over by Connect Airways, a consortium of Virgin Atlantic, Stobart Air and a US investor.

On 24 June 2021, Ourmières-Widener was appointed CEO of Portugal's flag carrier TAP Air Portugal.^[5]

Personal life[]

She runs marathons. Her husband Floyd Murray Widener works as a consultant. She has three children.^{[citation needed]}

References[]

External links[]

• Collingridge, John (2018-08-12). "Flybe's Christine Ourmières-Widener on shrinking to grow". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0956-1382. Retrieved 2019-05-16.
• "Flybe boss sets course for new future". Sky News. Retrieved 2019-05-16.