Air France-KLM is on the look-out for a new chief executive after Alexandre de Juniac announced that he was leaving to become the boss of Iata.
De Juniac will take up his new role on August 1, replacing Tony Tyler who is retiring.
“I would like to thank all those at Air France-KLM who for almost five years now have been fully committed to achieving together our recovery and restoring the conditions for growth. Working for Air France-KLM is a source of great pride," he said.
"I will continue to fulfil my responsibilities until I hand over to my successor at the end of July, and I will continue to defend air transport and all airlines – including Air France-KLM – in my new role."
De Juniac’s time at the airline group has been turbulent. The carrier has cut costs in a bid to improve the financial performance but on occasions this brought the management into conflict with workers.
Last October striking staff vented their anger by forcing their way into a meeting between senior management before ripping the shirts from the backs of some of the executives.
In its most recent set of annual results the company reported a pre-tax profit of €200 million for 2015 – up from €22 million in the prior period.