BrazilFormer Etihad Airways CEO Peter Baumgartner joins PA Consulting
The former CEO of Etihad Airways, Peter Baumgartner, has been recruited by PA Consulting as a senior advisor to establish a new aviation advisory board.
Nyras – an international aviation consultancy acquired roughly two years ago by global innovation and strategy firm PA Consulting – has achieved a coup in the recruitment of former Etihad Airways CEO Peter Baumgartner. Joining as a senior advisor, Baumgartner has been tasked with establishing a new Aviation Advisory Board of senior aviation experts to help guide the strategy of PA’s growing aviation business.
“I have worked with Peter for over twenty years, and have the highest respect for his achievements in the industry,” said PA Consulting’s Global Head of Aviation Richard Davey. “I am extremely pleased to be able to continue to work with him as he moves on from Etihad Aviation Group. He will provide the industry insights and perspectives to take our business to its next stage of development.”
Baumgartner crosses from a senior strategic advisory role with Etihad Aviation Group, a title he has held since vacating the CEO position at Etihad Airways in mid-2018. Prior to his elevation to chief executive, Baumgartner served as Etihad’s chief commercial officer, altogether spending over 13 years at the UAE’s second-largest airline. Earlier in his career, he spent over six years in various roles at SwissAir.
“It’s with great delight that I will now work with Richard and his growing team of aviation experts at PA,” said Baumgartner of his appointment. “I highly value their innovation and ability to contribute to successful outcomes. I look forward to helping further develop their understanding of the complex needs of their aviation clients and am eager to continue to make an impact in the aviation industry.”
With Nyras/PA Consulting and Davey – a more than three decade industry veteran who founded Nyras in 2003 after leading PwC’s global aviation business – counting multiple Middle East airlines among their client portfolio, Baumgartner notably added; “Throughout my career, it was impossible not to turn to Richard and his team in moments when exceptional subject matter expertise was required.”
Aviation experts
While Baumgartner has been tasked with establishing the firm’s Aviation Advisory Board – described as a non-executive group of senior aviation professionals to help shape the strategy of PA’s growing aviation business and support the delivery of PA’s best service for clients – the global consultancy’s aviation business already boasts some heavyweight expertise, including further links to the Middle East.
Among them, senior commercial aviation expert David Huttner, who was until last year a non-executive director of the Saudi Civil Aviation Holding Company; director Mark Elliot, a former CFO of Kuwait-based low-cost carrier Jazeera Airways, who further helped to establish and served as a board advisor for Jazeera’s aircraft leasing company Sahaab Leasing; and partner Iain May, also a one-time CFO at Jazeera.
Meanwhile, Etihad’s current CEO Tony Douglas was last year forced to scotch rumours of a take-over bid from Emirates. “So, the clown who wrote (the Bloomberg article) was probably no more than a clown as anyone could have wrote the story, quite frankly,” he told Arabian Business. “But, not surprisingly, as a result of said clown writing said clownesque story, I’ve been asked this question ten thousand times.”
