Virgin Atlantic has appointed Corneel Koster as executive vice president, customer. Koster joins from the airline’s joint venture partner, Delta Air Lines, where he currently holds the role of Senior Vice President - Europe, Middle East, Africa and India.
In his new role, Koster will lead Virgin Atlantic’s customer, product and service strategy and will be responsible for all customer facing teams, including airports, cabin crew, contact centres, clubhouses, customer experience insight and the inflight services team. He will commence his new role from August 2019.
Koster has a strong track record of international leadership experience in the aviation industry, having held senior roles on the leadership teams of both Virgin Atlantic and its key partners. From 2010 to 2013 he held the position of director of operations, safety and security at Virgin Atlantic, leading all operational workforces in the air and on the ground, including the pilot community.
In his current position at Delta, Koster oversees sales in the EMEAI region while coordinating the operational aspects and the service delivery to Delta’s customers, working closely with partners Air France-KLM and Alitalia.
Before joining Delta, as chief operating officer for Aeromexico he was responsible for the operational excellence and service delivery of Mexico’s leading airline group, running more than 650 services a day, as well as the company’s cargo and ground-handling subsidiaries. Corneel has also held several commercial leadership roles in the passenger, ground handling and cargo businesses of Air France-KLM, and before that KLM.
Corneel Koster commented: “I’m delighted to be returning to Virgin Atlantic and to join at such an exciting time, as we introduce our first ever A350, begin shaping the customer experience on our A330-neos and introduce a hat-trick of new routes from London Heathrow.”
Shai Weiss, CEO Virgin Atlantic, commented: “I’m thrilled to welcome Corneel back to the leadership team at Virgin Atlantic. He brings a wealth of experience with him, both working with our partners and in delivering award-winning, world class customer experience for passengers. His new role will allow him to strengthen these important relationships as part of our transatlantic expanded Joint Venture with Delta and Air France-KLM, taking the partnership to new heights.