Uber has appointed former Orbitz chief executive Barney Harford to the role of chief operating officer, ending a long search.

He becomes the second-highest ranking executive at Uber Technologies.

Earlier this year former chief executive Travis Kalanick disclosed he would be searching for someone to fill the position. 

The company continued to suffer a number of setbacks in the following months, including the resignation of Kalanick himself.

This came after a lawsuit from Alphabet’s self-driving car company Waymo, a department of justice investigation in the US, and a potential ban to its operations in London.

It is not the first time Harford has worked with new Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi.

Harford, who took on the role of chief executive at Orbitz in 2009, later sold the company to Expedia in 2015 for $1.6 billion.

Khosrowshahi was the chief executive of Expedia at the time and appointed Harford as company president for Asia Pacific.

Harford also sits on the board of United Airlines.

He has been working in an advisor capacity at Uber since October

According to the Uber, Harford will be responsible for global operations, marketing and customer support for both the ridesharing business as well as Uber Eats.