I couldn't agree more with this.

As I said in my post yesterday I'm tired of incoming CEO's making hollow pledges/commitments and then leaving after a couple of years.

Something has to change.
I am very disappointed at yet another CEO change. The airport needs stability.

However, I don't recall the current CEO making any hollow promises or commitment in the long term. I don't recall him making any promises at all in fact except a pledge to improve the quality of service at LBA. Sadly, it's what people do . Some stay put and some use posts as stepping stones , hopping from one challenge to another. It's happens all the time in all industries.

Overall, the past year must have been a huge challenge to the CEO and highly stressful due to the terminal project, all the c**p from the group that shall not be mentioned and certain Councillors and MPs, Covid and the thankless task of making people redundant, and trying to operate an airport in impossible circumstances. None of us know his personal life, or how it's been affected by any of this, and in the situation we all face, I personally think we should not be criticising his decision to move on and cut the guy some slack. It's not a good time to be judging anyone.

If the terminal is approved, he will have left behind a lasting legacy, and if not, then he gave it a good try and has been defeated, as have many before him, by our nutty council and also by the apparent lack of interest by the public who sit back and just expect it to happen.

Good luck to Vince Hodder. He obviously likes a challenge! And thanks to Hywel Rees for doing what nobody else did. Seeing reality, securing a commitment and funding from AMP and starting a modernisation process that we all hope will be seen through.
 
Hi Heather...completely agree.

The information about long term commitment came from the airport's own website.
"I am delighted to join Leeds Bradford Airport and look forward to working with the team to grow the airport long-term and deliver a high-quality service experience. I know what a positive contributor Leeds Bradford Airport is to the local economy and am excited by the opportunity to work with the airport staff and our key partners including airlines, government and the local business community."

I wish him well because he is a genuinely nice person and if one discounts the covid /lockdown period he only had 10 months prior to this.

That doesn't detract from the fact that we have had four ceo's now since 2010. Its almost as if they disappear into the ether after working at LBA...

John Parkin...where is he now?
David Laws....retired?
Hywel...leaving.
Hodder..joining.

At that job level, one would expect that they might move on and up...maybe to a larger airport.... do we know where any of the previous ceo's have gone?

I guess what I am saying is that we need someone long term rather than someone who is parachuted in and out.

Compare to Jet 2 ...the Board is stable and have been in situ for many years, living in the area. Stability builds business, stakeholder and shareholder confidence.
 
'Grow the airport long term' refers to the growth of the airport over the long term, it doesn't mean he will be there long term personally.

John Parkin was retiring but would have gone anyway as a Bridgepoint employee.

David Laws re-retired. He came to us having previously done so but his family remained in Newcastle so I don't think he was ever going to stay that long.
 
It's quite possible that LBA's more recent CEOs have been on short, fixed-term contracts. Furthermore, this could be what AMP has to offer in order to get some poor bugger in to run the place.
 
So is there a real possibility that the airport could go the wall, given the circumstances outlined above plus serious lack of revenue due to naff all flights?

I honestly don't think that will happen. AMP or whoever it maybe in the future, take on infrastructure projects because they are a long term investment. Whatever is thrown at us, Covid or co2 environmental concerns, the aviation industry will overcome it. Aviation isn't going to go away, travelling isn't going to stop. It's also worth pointing out that the planned £150m spend on LBA is an insignificant sum of money these days. The LBA project itself is insignificant on the grand scale of things. LBA has stood the test of time and it's a relatively secure long term investment for AMP. It serves two major UK cities. At some point, whether that be this year or sometime in the future LBA will overcome the latest challenges, even if it has to drag the city of Leeds behind it.
 
It's quite possible that LBA's more recent CEOs have been on short, fixed-term contracts. Furthermore, this could be what AMP has to offer in order to get some poor bugger in to run the place.
Hywel Rees has had several positions prior to LBA, all within the AMP Empire, and given the fact he quickly got the £150m funding for the terminal, on top of what he has already spent in the current terminal (eg. All new baggage belts in the Jet2 check in hall), that would suggest he is very much an AMP man, and one they trust to go in and get a job done. It would've no surprise if he is moving to sort out another of their investment portfolio.
 
I really hope you're right WH...Hywell is a nice man and well liked at the airport. He deserves to do well.

As with any new broom, expect changes and staff movement with the new ceo putting his stamp on LBA.

No equity company invests for the long term, every business they own is for sale; if the right price is offered then they will sell.

Once the new terminal is built ( which I'm sure it will be), LBA will be an even more valuable asset for AMP. Please be assured
There will always be an LBA as infrastructure investment is attractive to shareholders. This market always bounces back.


In terms of Parkin and Laws. No one in the aviation sector has heard of them being at either Bridgepoint or AMP. Its a small circuit. People would know. Maybe they've retired. And, I'm told, if Hywel was undertaking projects with AMP it would have been put in the press release. My colleagues may be wrong, but I doubt it.
 
I really hope you're right WH...Hywell is a nice man and well liked at the airport. He deserves to do well.

As with any new broom, expect changes and staff movement with the new ceo putting his stamp on LBA.

No equity company invests for the long term, every business they own is for sale; if the right price is offered then they will sell.

Once the new terminal is built ( which I'm sure it will be), LBA will be an even more valuable asset for AMP. Please be assured
There will always be an LBA as infrastructure investment is attractive to shareholders. This market always bounces back.


In terms of Parkin and Laws. No one in the aviation sector has heard of them being at either Bridgepoint or AMP. Its a small circuit. People would know. Maybe they've retired. And, I'm told, if Hywel was undertaking projects with AMP it would have been put in the press release. My colleagues may be wrong, but I doubt it.
I did say in my post further up (yesterday) that David Laws retired (again) and John Parkin also retired when Bridgepoint sold the airport to AMP, though I think he was intending to anyway.
 
Whatever Hywells reason for leaving the timing is bad and not in the best interests of the airport. We need a CEO who's heart is in the job. Stability is very important factor in these uncertain times. I feel quite let down.
 
Whatever Hywells reason for leaving the timing is bad and not in the best interests of the airport. We need a CEO who's heart is in the job. Stability is very important factor in these uncertain times. I feel quite let down.
In all honesty I think he always planned to leave LBA and I don't personally think this is entirely his decision. By this point we should already have had an outcome from the planning panel. Construction workers should already be on site building the new terminal. Jobs should already have been created in this process, but in true Leeds style, we're still here waiting and builders are stuck at home claiming benefits.
 
I'm sorry to sound negative but I was discussing this in the office with some other local businesses and we all believe he has left because he knows the new terminal is dead in the water.
I hope we are wrong, we had all supported the proposal but from what I am hearing it doesn't look at all promising.
 
Whatever Hywells reason for leaving the timing is bad and not in the best interests of the airport. We need a CEO who's heart is in the job. Stability is very important factor in these uncertain times. I feel quite let down.

Stability is important in terms of ownership and the Board of directors. i.e. there is an owner with a clear strategy for the airport and a commitment to invest the resources to make it happen. The CEO is the individual that the board and the owners employ to carry out their plans on a day to day basis. If he/she fails to deliver or they don't see eye to eye with the Board, they'll be moved on. If they do an amazing job, they may well be headhunted for a bigger job. Such is life. Personally I'm far more interested in AMP's plans for the airport and how they'll invest in the airport as the recovery from Covid begins.
 
I'm sorry to sound negative but I was discussing this in the office with some other local businesses and we all believe he has left because he knows the new terminal is dead in the water.
I hope we are wrong, we had all supported the proposal but from what I am hearing it doesn't look at all promising.
If local businesses have got the inside track on what the Chief Planning Officer is going to recommend, I'm pretty sure the airport's owners would know too !
 
Some CEO’s are appointed to do a specific job at a company and then move on. At the company my son works for the new CEO said he had been hired to turn the company around and would stay no longer than three years. He did just that.
 
I'm sorry to sound negative but I was discussing this in the office with some other local businesses and we all believe he has left because he knows the new terminal is dead in the water.
I hope we are wrong, we had all supported the proposal but from what I am hearing it doesn't look at all promising.

I don't know what you've being hearing, but have you got anything to back up them unsubstantiated claims? if so, please do share..

I'll be very happy to pass them on to the airport and Hywel for you.
 
We know it is an uphill struggle with some of the members of the planning committee who think that jobs and prosperity come in the way of government hand outs. Unfortunately back in the real world, Leeds needs jobs. When the Covid cloud clears it's going to leave a huge mess to clear up. Many people will be unemployed, those in work will need to pay more taxes to pay those who are unemployed. Job creation will be an overriding factor than every other single issue combined. As I have said in a previous post, infrastructure is a long term investment. Governments often use infrastructure spending to rebuild an economy after a financial crash to create jobs and get people spending again. The new airport terminal, a privately funded infrastructure project is exactly the type of infrastructure spending the government will need to encourage if we are going to rebuild the economy post Covid. As a city, if Leeds continues with it's fairy tale economy of carless streets and cycle lanes it will eventually have the city on it's knees.
 
I'm sorry to sound negative but I was discussing this in the office with some other local businesses and we all believe he has left because he knows the new terminal is dead in the water.
I hope we are wrong, we had all supported the proposal but from what I am hearing it doesn't look at all promising.

Yet the new CEO is quoted as saying (in the press release) that he is looking forward to progressing the terminal development through planning, which doesn't sound like a statement based on the application being dead in the water. Even if it is turned down, an appeal is likely.

Bear in mind too that if the new CEO is on board and starting on 1 February, they have known Hywel was leaving some time ago. Such appointments don't happen overnight. And yet only recently the Council were asking the airport to provide a report on aircraft noise and delaying the decision. Hardly likely if the outcome was already assured!

The shame is that the timing of this is generating all sorts of speculation, much of it negative, mostly probably pure guesswork and without foundation.

Let's just wait and see shall we? It doesn't help by having a go at the outgoing CEO when we know nothing of the facts, nor does it help by making suggestions the new CEO isn't a good replacement by implying a responsibility for an airline going bust. Give the guy a chance! Personally I am impressed that he would even want to come to LBA in current circumstances and inherit an airport with no more than 2 flights and a maximum of perhaps 150 passengers per day. Good luck to the guy.
 
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