Singapore Airlines on Monday announced the promotion of Tan Kai Ping, a senior officer extensively involved in the proposed merger of Air India and Vistara, to Executive Vice President of Operations and Chief Operations Officer.
The merger between Air India and full-service carrier Vistara is a key plank of SIA’s multi-hub strategy, the Singapore flag carrier said in a release on Monday. On Nov. 29 last year, Tata Group announced the merger of the two airlines under a deal where SIA will also acquire a 25.1% stake in Air India.
Tan, who was extensively involved in the proposed merger of India’s flag carrier and Vistara, also spearheaded the SIA Group’s successful fundraising efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic.
He led a multi-year initiative to strengthen the group’s financial resilience, optimise working capital, and build the capacity and capability of SIA’s Finance Division to meet the future needs of the business.
Tan, currently Executive Vice President of Finance and Strategy and Chief Financial Officer, managed the restructuring of the SIA Group’s aircraft order book, deferring capital expenditure and re-aligning the delivery stream in tandem with future capacity and fleet requirements.
SIA Chief Executive Officer Goh Choon Phong said, “Having the right talent in place will ensure that the SIA Group is ready to take on future challenges and seize the opportunities that come our way.”
The airlines said JoAnn Tan will be appointed Senior Vice President of Finance, a promotion from Senior Vice President of Marketing Planning, and Dai Hao Yu, Divisional Vice President of Digital, will be promoted to Acting Senior Vice President of Marketing Planning.
All appointments would be effective from Sept. 10, 2023, the SIA said.