UK regional airline Flybe has appointed Christine Ourmieres-Widener as its chief executive officer effective January 16, the company announced Tuesday. Ourmieres-Widener replaces Saad Hammad, who left Flybe in October by “mutual agreement” after three years as CEO. Flybe chairman Simon Laffin, who now serves as interim CEO, will return to his position as non-executive chairman once Ourmieres-Widener’s appointment takes effect.  
Ourmieres-Widener has spent her entire career in the aviation and travel industries, most recently serving as chief global sales officer for American Express Global Business Travel. Between 2010 and 2015, she ran Irish regional airline Cityjet as its chief executive officer after serving a long stint with Air France and Air France-KLM, wher she finally served as its New York-based vice president.

Ourmieres-Widener joins Flybe nine months after the company reported a fiscal-year profit for the first time since its 2010 IPO. Starting in 2013, Hammad administered a reversal in fleet strategy that saw the airline remove most of its Embraer E195s from service in favor of a predominantly turboprop fleet consisting of Bombardier Q400s. But not until this past spring did the company manage to report positive results, namely for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016.

In September the company announced the completion of Hammad’s three-year transformation plan, which included a capital raise, a brand re-launch and exit from its Flybe Finland joint venture. Most notably, however, it agreed with Embraer and U.S. regional carrier Republic Airways in 2014 to swap 20 new E195s ordered in 2010 for 24 ex-Republic Q400s in an effort to cut costs and seat capacity growth. Early this year it reached an agreement with Q400 lessor NAC to cancel delivery of nine of the 24 Bombardier turboprops. As part of the deal, it took ownership of 10 of the remaining Q400s, earning the airline a 12-percent return on capital and affording it more flexibility for deployment or divestiture of aircraft.