Benjamin Smith (executive)

Benjamin "Ben" Smith (born August 27, 1971) is a Canadian businessman and airline executive. He is presently CEO of Air France-KLM, a position that he has held since 2018. Prior to that, he was Air Canada’s President, Airlines and Chief Operating Officer.[1]

Benjamin Smith
Born (1971-08-27) 27 August 1971
NationalityCanadian
EducationUniversity of Western Ontario
OccupationCEO of Air France–KLM

Personal and education

Benjamin Smith was born on August 27, 1971 in the UK, of a mother from Hong Kong and an Australian father.[2] He holds a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Western Ontario University.[3]

Aviation career

A life-long aviation enthusiast, he started out in 1990 as a customer sales and service agent at Air Ontario, a predecessor of Jazz and regional subsidiary of Air Canada Express, in parallel with his studies. In 1992, he created a retail corporate travel agency, which he operated for eight years.[3]

Air Canada

In 1999, he worked as a consultant for Air Canada before joining the group in 2002. As Managing Director of Tango, he was responsible for successfully getting the low-cost subsidiary created in 2001 off the ground, to reduce the operating costs of the main carrier.[4] He was successively Chief Commercial Officer and Head of Network Planning within the company.[5]

In 2007, Smith joined the Air Canada executive management team.[5] He was the chief negotiator with the airline’s pilot and flight attendant unions which resulted in landmark long-term agreements.

In 2013, he launched the low-cost company Air Canada Rouge. Smith is described as the “driver of Air Canada’s commercial strategy”[6] and contributed to the transformation of the airline, including the purchase of new wide-bodied and narrow-bodied airplanes and a global network expansion to more than 200 destinations on six continents.[6]

In 2014, he was appointed the airline’s president (Air Canada, Rouge, Express and Cargo) and chief operating officer of the Air Canada group.[5]

Under his management, Air Canada has been voted best air transporter in North America seven times at the World Airline Awards.[7]

Air France-KLM

The Air France–KLM board of directors, meeting on August 16, 2018, appointed Smith as the holding's new CEO.[1] He took up his new position on September 17, 2018.

Covid-19 bonus controversy

France and The Netherlands pledged a combined 10 billion tax-payers backed government support to Air France-KLM as the company took a hard hit during the Covid-19 pandemics in early 2020. Smith has received criticism for accepting an 800,000 euro bonus late May 2020 despite the situation.

References
  1. "Air France KLM names Air Canada executive Smith as CEO". Reuters.com. 16 August 2018.
  2. "Qui est Benjamin Smith, le Canadien qui va piloter Air France-KLM?". ParisMatch.fr. 21 August 2018.
  3. "Sitting Down With The New CEO Of Air France KLM, Ben Smith". Forbes.com. 1 September 2018.
  4. "Air Canada Announces Departure of Benjamin Smith". TravelPulse. 15 August 2018.
  5. "Executive Profile: Benjamin Smith". Bloomberg.com.
  6. "Air Canada's No. 2 executive, Ben Smith, to be named CEO of Air France-KLM". theglobeandmail.com.
  7. "Air Canada named Best Airline in North America at the Skytrax World Airline Awards 2018".
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