Virgin Atlantic has appointed Steve Griffiths as its new Chief Operating Officer. Steve replaces Lyell Strambi, who returned to Australia at the end of last year.Steve Griffiths is currently the Director of Engineering for Virgin Atlantic and is responsible for all aspects of aircraft engineering and maintenance. His new role as COO will encompass Engineering, Operations, Airports, Cabin Crew, Product and Cargo.

Griffiths joined Virgin Atlantic in 1995 in Propulsion Engineering and has held the position of Propulsion Manager, Technical & Design Manager and General Manager - Continuing Airworthiness responsible for Fleet Engineering, Propulsion, Design, Reliability, Maintenance Planning, Airworthiness Records and Outsourced Maintenance. Steve was promoted to the position of Director of Engineering in July 2007.

After starting his career with Rolls-Royce plc, where he completed his apprenticeship and obtained an engineering degree, Steve went on to become a senior engineer in the Product Support & Engineering division before leaving to join Virgin Atlantic.

Steve takes up the new role from 16th March 2009.
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