Virgin Atlantic has appointed Delta’s Corneel Koster as executive vice president, customer.
Koster will join from Delta Air Lines, Virgin Atlantic’s joint venture partner, where he is senior vice president – Europe, Middle East, Africa and India.
From August, he will lead Virgin Atlantic’s customer, product and service strategy and be responsible for all customer-facing teams, including airports, cabin crew, contact centres, clubhouses, customer experience insight and the inflight services team.
Koster has previously held senior leadership roles at Virgin Atlantic, including director of operations, safety and security from 2010 to 2013.
He has also worked as chief operating officer for Aeromexico and in commercial leadership roles at Air France-KLM, and before that KLM.
“I’m delighted to be returning to Virgin Atlantic and to join at such an exciting time, as we introduce our first ever A350, begin shaping the customer experience on our A330-neos and introduce a hat-trick of new routes from London Heathrow,” Koster said.
“Customers have always been at the heart of this special airline. I look forward to building upon the amazing work of our teams in the air and on the ground, and to continue innovating to ensure that we are the airline our customers most love to fly, while offering a growing portfolio of travel options with our partners.”
Shai Weiss, Virgin Atlantic chief executive, added: “I’m thrilled to welcome Corneel back to the leadership team at Virgin Atlantic. He brings a wealth of experience with him, both working with our partners and in delivering award-winning, world class customer experience for passengers. His new role will allow him to strengthen these important relationships as part of our transatlantic expanded Joint Venture with Delta and Air France-KLM, taking the partnership to new heights.”