International Airlines Group (IAG) has confirmed Javier Sánchez-Prieto as new chairman and chief executive of Iberia.
Sánchez-Prieto is currently chairman and chief executive of Vueling, the IAG-owned no-frills carrier based in Barcelona.
He will take over from current Iberia chairman and chief executive Luis Gallego in March when Gallego succeeds Willie Walsh as IAG chief executive.
Walsh will retire in June, having announced he would stand down in early January.
Sánchez-Prieto has run Vueling since 2016 having previously worked as Iberia chief financial officer.
IAG has appointed Marco Sansavini, currently Iberia chief commercial officer, as chairman and chief executive of Vueling.
Sánchez-Prieto completes a near clean sweep of Spaniards at the top of IAG, which was formed from the merger of British Airways and Iberia in 2011.
BA chief executive Alex Cruz previously ran Vueling.
Gallego was also at Vueling before becoming chief executive of Iberia subsidiary Iberia Express in 2012 and then taking over at Iberia in 2013.
And IAG chairman Antonio Vazquez was formerly chairman and chief executive of Iberia.
Fernando Candela, who ran Iberia Express until last September, is in charge of small but growing low-cost subsidiary LEVEL – and Carlos Gómez Suárez runs Iberia Express.
Sansavini is an exception, having joined Iberia in 2012 after previously working with rival carriers Alitalia and Air France-KLM.
The only other non-Spaniard running an IAG airline is former BA network and fleet director Sean Doyle who took over as chief executive at Aer Lingus at the start of this year.
IAG is listed on the Madrid stock exchange as well as in London and the Spanish connection will increase assuming the group’s €1 billion acquisition of Air Europa gains regulatory approval. The deal was announced in November.
Walsh congratulated the pair on their promotion, saying: “I’m absolutely confident they are the right people to lead Iberia and Vueling. Both have worked in the group for several years and have fantastic track records.”
Gallego said: “Both Javier and Marco have considerable knowledge and experience of the Spanish and international markets.”
Sánchez-Prieto has led Vueling since 2016.
He was previously strategic planning and finance director at Iberia, where he worked on the airline’s financial turnaround from 2013, joining from Iberia Express where he was chief financial officer when the subsidiary was formed in 2012
Prior to that he worked at Iberia franchise partner Air Nostrum.