Barbara Cassani, 50, and Saad Hammad, 48, are joining the Board of Air Berlin PLC as new Non-Executive Directors with effect on May 1stThis means that airberlin is increasing the number of Directors on its Non-Executive Board to nine.

Barbara Cassani was born in Boston, USA. The achievements of this American businesswoman include being the founder and CEO of the low-cost airline Go Fly, which first traded as a subsidiary of British Airways before being sold to easyJet at a profit following a management buyout. Cassani also made a name for herself by chairing the organising committee for London’s bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympics and received a CBE in recognition of her work. After earning the master’s degree in International Relations, she was employed by a management consultancy firm in London before joining British Airways in 1997. Cassani’s most recent appointment was as Executive Chairman of a British-Irish hotel group.

Saad Hammad, British and Lebanese, first read Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford University before completing his Masters in Business Administration at INSEAD in France. After management positions at a number of leading international companies, including Procter & Gamble and the Boston Consulting Group, Hammad joined easyJet as Chief Commercial Officer in 2005. Since 2009, he has been a Managing Director of the private-equity firm, The Gores Group in Europe. Joachim Hunold, CEO airberlin, commented on the appointment of Cassani and Hammad: “I am very happy that airberlin was able to gain two such high-profile business leaders with vast international experience. Their expertise in aviation, as well as in other areas of management, will be of great benefit to the Board of airberlin and consequently to the business as a whole.”