Air Canada CEO to retire
MICHAEL ROUSSEAU NAMED SUCCESSOR
Air Canada chief executive Calin Rovinescu will retire next year after leading the company for more than a decade, with the airline’s longtime No. 2 set to inherit the role as the industry faces a once-in-ageneration crisis.
Michael Rousseau, Air Canada’s deputy chief executive and chief financial officer, will take the controls starting Feb. 15, when Rovinescu steps down.
Rousseau, 61, has been deputy chief executive at the Montrealbased company since December 2018 and Air Canada’s CFO since 2007.
Rovinescu, 65, has led the airline since 2009, when he came aboard as the Great Recession was taking a toll on the global travel market.
He has a long history with the airline: A longtime partner of Montreal’s Stikeman Elliott law firm, Rovinescu worked with Air Canada as lead external counsel during its 1988 privatization and repulsed a hostile takeover bid for the airline from Onex Corp. in 1999.
He joined the company as head of strategy starting in 2000, graduating to chief restructuring officer during its spell in bankruptcy court in 2003 before leaving the next year to co-found investment bank Genuity Capital Markets.
Since returning to Air Canada as CEO he has elevated it to consistent profitability, working out long-term labour agreements, buying fuel-efficient aircraft, launching low-cost subsidiary Rouge and driving Air Canada’s revenue to new heights of $19.13 billion last year.
He cemented his reputation as a skilled negotiator with the $497-million repurchase of Aeroplan last year — spun off from Air Canada in 2005 — and a renegotiated deal announced last week to buy rival Transat A.T. Inc. for $190 million rather than the original $720 million.
Air Canada shares would become the best performing stock on the Toronto Stock Exchange over his decade at the helm, returning more than 5,900 per cent through the end of 2019.
Rovinescu has been rewarded for his success, receiving $12.87 million in total compensation in 2019, though as of May 4 that figure had been halved thanks to a tanking stock price. He is also entitled to a nearly $800,000 annual pension, but agreed to waive his $1.4-million salary starting April 1, 2020, due to the pandemic. As 2020 dawned, he sat atop the country’s dominant airline, flush with profits and liquidity and a share price that topped $52, miles above the penny stock it was in 2009.
“Under Mr. Rovinescu’s leadership, Air Canada rose to become one of the strongest network airlines globally and, until COVID-19, had exceptional share price performance to match,” Canaccord Genuity analyst Doug Taylor said in a note to investors.