The Diplomat
Javier Sánchez-Prieto stepped down as chairman of Iberia yesterday, as he announced last May, to take over the IVI-RMA group.
Sánchez Prieto’s position will be temporarily filled by Fernando Candela, who after having been Chief Transformation Officer of International Airlines Group (IAG) since 2020, will lead the Iberia group until the end of his professional life at the end of this year.
In a farewell statement, Sánchez-Prieto, who is leaving Iberia on his own initiative, described his time at the helm of the company as “an honour” and praised his colleagues at the company for having contributed to the development and progress of the airline operator to make it “one of the best companies in the world”.
Sánchez-Prieto leaves the aviation sector after having been CEO of Vueling and Iberia to take the helm of IVI-RMA, a Valencian assisted reproduction multinational.
Meanwhile, among Candela’s first tasks at the helm of the company will be to tackle the repayment of Iberia’s debt and to continue negotiations to complete the purchase of Air Europa by IAG, an operation in which he has been involved in recent months under the leadership of Luis Gallego, CEO of IAG.
Candela has been CEO of Level since 2019 and IAG’s Chief Transformation Officer since 2020. In addition, he was CEO of Iberia Express for six years and, previously, among other positions, he was Director of Planning and Management Control at Air Nostrum.
“There is, of course, no better end to my professional career than leading Iberia, Spain’s leading airline and one of the country’s most prominent companies, an example of efficiency in the international arena,” said Candela last May.
