Virgin Atlantic has appointed Corneel Koster to the role of executive vice president, customer.

He replaces Mark Anderson, who has departed to lead Connect Airways, the new operator of Flybe.

Koster joins Virgin from 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, he 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.

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.

Under his leadership, Delta achieved record transatlantic customer satisfaction scores.

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.

Koster has also held several commercial leadership roles in the passenger, ground handling and cargo businesses of Air France-KLM, and before that KLM.

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.

“Customers have always been at the heart of this special airline.

“I look forward to building upon the amazing work of our teams in the air and on the ground, and to continue innovating to ensure that we are the airline our customers most love to fly, while offering a growing portfolio of travel options with our partners.”