Aircraft Finance Germany (AFG) has appointed Shiekuma Gemade as its executive vice president and chief operating officer. He brings over two decades of aviation, MRO, and airline leadership experience to the role.
Gemade has led aircraft acquisitions, fleet strategies, and leasing transactions exceeding $12bn, the company said.
He was most recently head of fleet at Riyadh Air, with responsibilities for aircraft acquisitions, fleet planning, and building an ambitious new aircraft programme for the start-up airline.
He previously held leadership roles at Atlas Air Worldwide and Titan Aviation Leasing, where he managed a significant lease portfolio of widebody freighters, built the lease management platform, and managed complex cross-border transactions spanning the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
Earlier in his career at Delta Air Lines, he advanced from engineering at Delta Technical Operations into operations leadership, optimising performance for a 450-aircraft DC fleet.